Huawei, a Chinese technology firm, has finally been granted the green light to build the United Kingdom's 5 G network infrastructure, the Guardian newspaper has reported.
The green light, which was issued by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, comes on the heels of months of sustained controversy around Huawei being given the lucrative project.
A government official said that the UK remained clear-eyed about the risks posed by Huawei.
“We are clear-eyed about the challenge posed by Huawei, which we today confirm is a high-risk vendor,” said a government source as quoted by the Guardian newspaper.
“Today's decision doesn't affect our ability to share sensitive intelligence data over secure networks both within the UK and with allies,” the source added.
Top on the list of concerns was the close relationship that the tech firm has with the Chinese state, a relationship that critics have warned could be exploited on by the Chinese government to spy on other countries.
The United States of America President Donald Trump had urged the UK not to give Huawei the job, warning that if did, then it would damage the relationship that the two countries have.
The Independent newspaper noted that the UK Prime Minister was taking a gamble, risking the anger of the US President Donald Trump by giving Huawei the go-ahead.
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