The CEO of telecoms company BT has warned it may take a decade to remove Huawei equipment from Britain’s wireless infrastructure if the U.K. government follows the U.S. in dumping the telecom provider from its networks.

Philip Jansen told the BBC that the Chinese tech giant has been in the telecoms infrastructure for two decades and has been a big supplier to the industry.

That legacy will complicate things for British officials, who are reportedly reconsidering their decision to give Huawei a limited role supplying new high-speed network equipment to wireless carriers.

“It is all about timing and balance,” Jansen told the BBC. “So if you want to have no Huawei in the whole of the telecoms infrastructure across the whole of the U.K., I think that’s impossible to do in under 10 years.”

Dumping Huawei from the 5G network could take as long as five to seven years. But the details are critical.

“If we get in a situation where things need to go very fast, then we go into a situation where service for 24 million BT Group mobile customers is put into question - outages would be possible,” he said. “Secondly the security and safety in the short-term could be put at risk - this is really critical here. If you are not able to buy or transact with Huawei that would mean you wouldn’t be able to get software upgrades if you take it to its specificity.”’’

Britain had decided in January to let Chinese tech giant Huawei have a limited role supplying new high-speed network equipment to wireless carriers, ignoring the U.S. government’s warnings that it would sever intelligence sharing if the company was not banned.

But the move set up a diplomatic clash with the Americans, who claim that British sovereignty was at risk because the company could give the Chinese government access to data - an allegation Huawei denies.

Amid continued pressure to remove Huawei from communication networks entirely, the U.S. imposed new sanctions aimed at the firm’s supply chain, sparking the U.K. government review.

At Huawei Virtual launch conference, Huawei officially launches Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) Core 4.0 to the global developers and urged the developer to bring new apps on the Huawei AppGallery.

Huawei Consumer Business Head, Richard Yu announced the new HMS Core and said it will make a new way for Huawei to brings its own app ecosystem to global consumers alternative to the existing ecosystems.

“Moving forward, we will continue expanding our app ecosystem in the HUAWEI AppGallery with hopes to not only create a secure and reliable platform but also to provide consumers with more choice. The continued success of this thriving ecosystem will remain one of our highest priorities.” Said, Richard.

Since Huawei cannot use Google Mobile Services, the company has announced that HMS will lead the way solely for its smartphone app ecosystem to replace requirements for Google Mobile Services.

Huawei Mobile Services Core 4.0

HMS Core is a collection of tools made for Huawei’s partners and app developers to create unique, new experiences that tap into the full hardware and software capabilities Huawei devices have on offer.

By integrating HMS into their apps with HMS Core 4.0, developers can quickly deploy Huawei’s on-device capabilities such as HiAI, distributed technology and camera features on their apps and provide quality experiences to end-users.

Read EVERY DETAIL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HUAWEI MOBILE SERVICES (HMS), APPS HERE.

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Huawei achieved this by adopting a “glocal” strategy which combined the best attributes of globalized collaboration with those of localized business operations, hence encouraging developers to create innovative and high-quality apps that enhance the experience for users in Nepal.

Designed with Users in Mind Huawei appgallery

Through the dual principles of “glocal” and "Security above all else", only quality apps are selected with personalized recommendations that are based on the needs, requirements and preferences of users in Nepal. These apps aim to enrich the lives of users through locally-driven content and services. This brings added convenience to consumers by removing the trial and error approach of searching through a sea of apps for the most suitable choice.

HUAWEI AppGallery offers consumers in Nepal a boutique app experience with intuitive apps that integrate the best elements from around the world while adapting them to the needs of users in Nepal

Consumers are often confronted with App platforms that are packed with a vast selection of apps. However, a lack of screening or filtering leaves many confused when searching for a particular app. This is made more complicated with the huge increase in the number of smart devices, which means developers need to account for different hardware, thereby affecting app performance.

Huawei is well placed to offer users a more integrated experience across devices due to the experience it has built up by developing a wide range of smart consumer-facing electronics products.

As a result, Huawei is uniquely positioned to directly engage with users in Nepal and address their demands with quality apps, especially in times where staying at home is still encouraged. This means dedicated apps for stylus-equipped tablets, foldable phones and the App Multiplier feature work cohesively with devices to deliver a more comfortable and interactive user experience.

HUAWEI AppGallery has been tailored to ensure that only premium services are accessible, encompassing globally distributed apps and popular local Nepali content. It integrates a stringent app screening mechanism as well as an exclusive classification system that is applied on a global scale.

This approach has seen HUAWEI Video secure over 140 million monthly active users, and in-depth collaboration with global and regional partnerships and content partners. Huawei smartphone users in Nepal are free to browse a rich pool of content, which is global in scope but local in character, to enjoy immersive entertainment at any time.

HUAWEI Music aims to enrich the lives of its listeners with the sounds they crave and has so far gathered tens of millions of tracks from leading music production companies. It is now available in over 100 countries and regions around the world, with more than 160 million monthly active users.

Note: All (monthly active users) data is as of the end of 2019. The latest data will be unveiled in mid-May.

End-to-End Support for Nepali developers

Developers are equally important as users to any app platform. Huawei understands the crucial role developers in the region can play in creating apps that cater to the needs of users. As such it provides app developers with localized operation support. In fact, the "Shining-Star" program committed 1 billion USD in comprehensive assistance for the less downloaded, under-monetized apps, as well as quality local apps in innovative development, app publication, application integration and lifecycle end-to-end operation along with point-to-point technical assistance.

The "Shining-Star" program is complemented by the all-new Huawei DigiX Labs initiative, where Huawei works closely with local developers to fine-tune the user experience in AppGallery. Huawei DigiX Labs are focused on innovation, testing, R&D and various services, in wide-ranging technological fields such as gaming, education, child care, financial services, quick apps, AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality) and AI (Artificial Intelligence).

HUAWEI Developer Day (HDD) events provide opportunities for both Huawei and app developers to discuss industry trends, new technologies and previous cases so that outside developers can fully leverage the shared capabilities and services of Huawei's consumer business. This, in turn, delivers more integrated and innovative experiences to the end-user.

DigiX Labs play an important role in final device commissioning, development capability testing and tool experience fine-tuning, and have so far made it to eight global cities: Dubai, Dublin, Moscow, Dusseldorf, Warsaw, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Singapore.

In 2019, 45 HDDs were held in 32 countries, with tens of thousands of developers participating in-person. This resulted in 163% (YoY) more developers outside of China opting to design for the AppGallery platform. In the near future, HDD will continue to expand its footprint to cover Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, and Latin America etc., to share the unique benefits of AppGallery with interested developers around the world, and to build a seamless AI life.

HUAWEI AppGallery has quickly established itself as one of the top 3 app marketplaces globally where users can enjoy a safe finetuned experience. By supporting Nepal based developers in creating exciting apps, local Nepali users will be able to enjoy even more enhanced experiences tailored to their needs.

The Huawei AppGallery now has more than 70 Nepali Apps along with different categories such as banking, entertainment, health, news and utilities. Some of the apps that we use daily and its integration in the AppGallery will certainly come as a relief for the potential Huawei customers.

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Huawei, the global leading technology company, has announced the availability of the ‘Petal Search – Find Apps’ search widget, which comes pre-installed on the latest HUAWEI P40 Series and is already available for download via AppGallery. The new search tool offers Huawei users an open gateway to a million apps and a way to easily search for the things they need – including news, images and more – directly from the home screen of their device.

Huawei has a new search tool powered by the Petal Search engine that has been created in partnership with Global and European search engine leaders to offer Huawei users innovative and diverse search experience.

Gateway to a million apps for Huawei Users

It is now even easier for Huawei users to have the apps they want on their HMS devices.

1) Phone Clone – One easy way to transfer your apps, contacts, data, files and photos from your old smartphone to your new smartphone, in a few simple steps.

2) AppGallery – Huawei’s official app store with more than 420M monthly active users and a constantly growing list of apps. It features a 4-layer detection mechanism to ensure apps featured are safe to download and use. Simply browse and download the apps you need.

3) ‘Petal Search – Find Apps’ search widget – one of three ways in which Huawei users can find and download apps on to their HMS devices, alongside AppGallery and Phone Clone. Simply use it directly from the home screen of your device.

A new search experience with Petal Search engine

Powered by the Petal Search engine, the search widget brings an alternative search experience that locates and aggregates information, delivering the most accurate and relevant results for each user in order to enable them to fully personalise and manage their smartphone experience.

In addition to news, images and entertainment, the search tool lists apps from multiple sources – always listing the source origin. Huawei’s AppGallery is completely integrated into the widget and any apps already available in the AppGallery will appear at the top of any search in the new tool. Hundreds of new apps continue to be added to the AppGallery every week.

Created in partnership with global and European search engine leaders, including Qwant and Yandex, the ‘Petal Search – Find Apps’ brings together the best in hardware-based security and safety technologies, combined with the unparalleled privacy standards set by these leading privacy-by-design search engines, to ensure the highest standards of data privacy and security for Huawei users.

Availability

The ‘Petal Search – Find Apps’ search widget currently supports more than 40 languages and is available in 45 countries and regions with plans for wider rollout to even more countries in the future. The new search tool will come pre-installed on Huawei’s latest flagship HUAWEI P40 series, including the P40 Pro, P40 and P40 lite and for existing Huawei users, it is now available to download from the AppGallery by simply searching for Petal Search – Find Apps.

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Only five years ago, then-British Prime Minister David Cameron was celebrating a “golden era” in U.K.-China relations, bonding with President Xi Jinping over a pint of beer at the pub and signing off on trade deals worth billions.

Those friendly scenes now seem like a distant memory.

Hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent days over Beijing’s new national security law for Hong Kong. Britain’s decision to offer refuge to millions in the former colony was met with a stern telling-off by China. And Chinese officials have threatened “consequences” if Britain treats it as a “hostile country” and decides to cut Chinese technology giant Huawei out of its critical telecoms infrastructure amid growing unease over security risks.

All that is pointing to a much tougher stance against China, with a growing number in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party taking a long, hard look at Britain’s Chinese ties. Many are saying Britain has been far too complacent and naive in thinking it could reap economic benefits from the relationship without political consequences.

“It’s not about wanting to cut ties with China. It’s that China is itself becoming a very unreliable and rather dangerous partner,” said lawmaker and former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. He cited Beijing’s “trashing” of the Sino-British Joint Declaration — the treaty supposed to guarantee Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy when it reverted from British to Chinese rule — and aggressive posturing in the South China Sea as areas of concern.

“This is not a country that is in any way managing itself to be a good and decent partner in anything at the moment. That’s why we need to review our relationship with them,” he added. “Those who think this is a case of separating trade from government … you can’t do that, that’s naïve.”

Duncan Smith has lobbied other Tory lawmakers to cut Huawei out from Britain’s superfast 5G network. Not only that: He says all existing Huawei technology in the U.K. telecoms infrastructure also needs to be eliminated as soon as possible.

The company has been at the center of tensions between China and Britain, as U.K. officials review how the latest U.S. sanctions — imposed over allegations of cyber spying and aimed at cutting off Huawei’s access to advanced microchips made with American technology — will affect British telecom networks.

Johnson decided in January that Huawei can be deployed in future 5G networks as long as its share of the market is limited, but officials have since hinted that that decision could be reversed in light of the U.S. sanctions. A new policy is expected within weeks.

Huawei says it is merely caught in the middle of a U.S.-China battle over trade and technology. It has consistently denied allegations it could carry out cyber espionage or electronic sabotage at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.

“We’ve definitely been pushed into the geopolitical competition,” Vice President Victor Zhang said Wednesday. U.S. accusations about security risks are all politically motivated, he said.

Nigel Inkster, senior adviser to the International Institute for Strategic Studies and former director of operations and intelligence at Britain’s MI6 intelligence service, said the issue with Huawei was not so much about immediate security threats. Rather, he said, the deeper worry lies in the geopolitical implications of China becoming the world’s dominant player in 5G technology.

“It’s less about cyber espionage than generally conceived because, after all, that’s happening in any place,” he said. “This was never something of which the U.K. was lacking awareness.”

Still, Inkster said he’s been cautioning for years that Britain needed a more coherent strategy toward China that balances the economic and security factors.

“There was a high degree of complacency” back in the 2000s, he said. “There was always less to the ‘golden era’ than met the eye.”

Britain rolled out the red carpet for Xi’s state visit in 2015, with golden carriages and a lavish banquet at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II. A cyber security cooperation deal was struck, along with billions in trade and investment projects — including Chinese state investment in a British nuclear power station. Cameron spoke about his ambitions for Britain to become China’s “best partner in the West.”

Enthusiasm has cooled significantly since. The English city of Sheffield, which was promised a billion-pound deal with a Chinese manufacturing firm in 2016, said the investment never materialized. Critics have called it a vanity project and a “candy floss deal.”

Economic and political grumbles about China erupted into sharp rebukes earlier this month when Beijing imposed sweeping new national security laws on Hong Kong. Johnson’s government accused China of a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and announced it would open a special route to citizenship for up to 3 million eligible Hong Kong residents.

That amounts to “gross interference,” Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming said. Liu also warned that a decision to get rid of Huawei could drive away other Chinese investment in the U.K., and derided Britain for succumbing to U.S. pressure over the company.

Rana Mitter, an Oxford history professor specializing in China, said that the security law — combined with broader resentment about Chinese officials’ handling of information about the coronavirus — helped set the stage for a perfect storm of wariness among Britain’s politicians and the public.

Mitter added that Britain has careened from “uncritically accepting everything about China” to a confrontational approach partly because of a lack of understanding about how China operates.

Some have cautioned against escalating tensions. Philip Hammond, the former British Treasury chief, warned that weakening links with the world’s second-largest economy was particularly unwise at a time when Britain is severing trade ties with Europe and seeking partners elsewhere. Hammond also said he was concerned about an “alarming” rise of anti-Chinese sentiment within his Conservative Party.

Duncan Smith rejected that, saying concerns about China’s rise are cross-party and multinational. He is part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a newly launched group of lawmakers from more than a dozen countries — from the U.S. to Australia to Japan — that want a coordinated international response to the Chinese challenge.

“We need to recognize that this isn’t something one country can deal with,” he said.