Wednesday 06 February 2019 2:28 pm | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 1:42 am

Huawei security issues will take three to five years to resolve, company warns

Huawei needs three to five years to resolve the security issues raised in a UK government report last year, according to a company letter sent to MPs.

The Chinese telecoms firm has already pledged to spend $2bn (£1.5bn) addressing the security concerns outlined in the National Cyber Security Centre's (NCSC) annual report.

But in a letter to politicians dated last week Huawei’s carrier business group president, Ryan Ding, said the process could take up to five years.

“Enhancing our software engineering capabilities is like replacing components on a high-speed train in motion,” he wrote in a letter to MP Norman Lamb.

“It is a complicated and involved process, and will take at least three to five years to see tangible results. We hope the UK government can understand this.”

The letter comes after Lamb, who leads the Science and Technology Committee, wrote to senior ministers and Huawei executives to raise concerns about the Chinese firm.

In a lengthy response, Ding offered reassurances that Huawei’s products pose no threat to the UK’s security and denied claims it could cooperate with Chinese authorities to spy on customers.

“Huawei has never and will never use UK-based hardware, software, or information gathered in the UK or anywhere else globally, to assist other countries in gathering intelligence. We would not do this is any country,” he wrote.

The reassurances came as Huawei tabled an offer to build a cyber security centre in Poland in a bid to allay international fears its technology could be used for spying.

“We are ready to establish a cyber security centre in Poland if authorities accept this as a trusted solution,” Huawei’s Poland boss, Tonny Bao, told reporters.

Last month a Chinese Huawei worker and a former Polish security agent were arrested in Poland on suspicion of spying. The Chinese employee was later dismissed.