THE UK HAS THE WORST 5G service in the European region, a new survey revealed—thanks to the country’s decision to kick out their Chinese partners.
At a city level, London now has the worst 5G coverage of major cities in the region, said a study by internet and quality testing company MedUX. It has a sluggish download of just 143 Mbps, compared to 528 Mbps in Lisbon.
British carriers are also inferior at 5G to European operators in terms of network quality, the researchers added.
London has “the worst overall experience” and “the worst speed performance score in Europe,” the MedUX report said.
COSTLY POLITICAL GAMES
The downgrade in quality is traced back to 2020, when the British followed US orders to remove the world’s top-selling 5G equipment because it was made by Huawei, a company in Shenzhen, China.
The move has struck a heavy and long-lasting blow to UK tech users, not to mention the country’s taxpayers.
The UK public continues to be told that it was a security issue. “The UK began removing Huawei devices from its phone network in 2020 to defend national security,” Euroreporter said last week, echoing British mainstream media.
But this is not correct. UK scientists and spy agencies gave Huawei a clean bill of health, with no security issues—but were coerced into promising to remove it by the United States.
GERMANS STOOD UP
Vince Cable, a former British business secretary, revealed the truth in December 2021. “The reason we have disengaged from China and Huawei and 5G has got nothing to do with British national security,” Cable told a meeting. “It’s because we were told by the Americans that we had to.”
Worse still, other countries stood up for their people’s rights. The German leadership “took a view in their national interest” and “kept with 5G”, Cable said. “And if Britain had, we would now be at the forefront of countries using the most advanced telecommunications technology.”
Instead, the UK followed US orders, and the sad result is now clear.
COSTS ARE IN THE BILLIONS
The cost of removing and replacing the equipment is measured in billions of pounds sterling—but the cost of the delay caused by the operation is even greater.
A 2020 study by Martin Tripp Associates said that pushing back on Chinese technology would mean “a total loss to the UK economy of between £19bn and £36bn over the next five years”.
Image at the top by fridayeveryday.