The United Kingdom has given its operators approval to use a limited set of equipment from China-based vendor Huawei to help construct their 5G and 4G LTE networks. The decision comes as the United States continue to bar the use of Huawei equipment in domestic networks.

The U.K. government and its National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) decreed that Huawei is a “high risk vendor” (HRV), which means it poses a “greater security and resilience risks to U.K. telecoms networks.” As such, equipment from HRVs must be “excluded from sensitive ‘core’ parts of 5G and gigabit-capable networks.”

The government will allow operators to use Huawei equipment to construct radio access network (RAN) elements. However, it’s capping that usage at 35% of the total construct that “allows for effective cybersecurity risk management.” This would also seem to leave a fair share of business for other equipment vendors like Ericsson, Nokia, and Cisco. The Huawei usage also has geographical limitations tied to the location of sensitive, military, or government locations.

The U.K.’s largest operators began rolling out 5G networks last year, though overall coverage is still just a small portion of the country. Those operators have been using a mix of equipment from Nokia, Ericsson, and Huawei, though the latter has been limited to the RAN.

As part of the Huawei decision, the NCSC released detailed guidance that stated the move was due to the inability for the government and operators to manage the cybersecurity risk associated with HRVs.

Specific to Huawei, it noted that the vendor already had “significant market share” in the country that provided it with a “strategic significance.” It also noted that since it is a China-based company, under China’s National Intelligence Law of 2017 Huawei could be “ordered to act in a way that is harmful to the U.K.” And it pointed to ongoing cybersecurity attacks against the U.K. from the Chinese government and actors associated with the Chinese government.

The guidance includes a long list of network areas where HRVs are excluded from. These include the IP core; security functions; operating support systems (OSS); management and authentication; authorization and audit (AAA) functions; virtualization infrastructure that includes NFV infrastructure (NFVi); orchestrator and controller functions that include management and network orchestration (MANO) and SDN; network monitoring and optimization; interconnection equipment; internet gateway functions; and lawful intercept related functions.

Specific to 5G networks, equipment from HRVs are not allowed in 5G core database functions; a number of 5G core-related services including authentication server function, access and mobility management function, unstructured data storage function, network slice selection function, policy control function, and user plane function; and security edge protection proxy.

The decision seems to leave fellow China-based vendor ZTE out in the cold. While not mentioned directly in the guidance report, it does state that Huawei is the only vendor that has a “risk mitigation strategy” in place.

Huawei in a statement put a positive spin on the announcement, noting that it was “reassured by the U.K. government’s confirmation that we can continue working with our customers to keep the 5G rollout on track.”

Analysts took vastly differing views on the decision.

“Huawei will likely claim that the U.K. decision doesn’t hurt its prospects. This is probably to save face,” noted John Strand from Strand Consult in a statement. “The fact is that Huawei will be subject to increased restriction and will not be able to enlarge its market share. Moreover, there is no change on the ZTE ban. The U.K. makes clear that Chinese equipment is not allowed in the core network. Moreover, when it comes to RAN, there are also strict limitations.”

However, Dimitris Mavrakis, research director at ABI Research, found the news to be the exact opposite.

“This is extremely good news for Huawei,” Mavrakis wrote. “We are thrilled to see the British government taking informed advice from their security advisors and telecoms service providers regarding this contentious issue and not submitting to the pressure induced by geopolitical tactics. This move will encourage other governments to take similar initiatives and welcome Huawei back to the list of key suppliers and innovators in the 5G era.”

The U.K. decision comes as the U.S. government continues to bar the use of equipment from China-based vendors in domestic 5G networks. The move has been bolstered by a group of U.S. senators that have recently introduced a bill that would funnel more than $1 billion into 5G-related research and development in open RAN technologies that could elevate U.S. companies as an alternative to Huawei and ZTE.

Huawei last month filed a legal petition against the Federal Communication Commission’s move to bar rural U.S. operators from using equipment from the China-based vendor because of national security concerns. Huawei argued in its claim that the FCC order fails to offer the vendor “due process protections in labeling Huawei a national security threat.”

“Banning a company like Huawei, just because we started in China – this does not solve cybersecurity challenges,” Huawei’s Chief Legal Officer Song Liuping said at a press conference.

The Huawei issue also continues to rage internationally where countries have provided mixed guidance to operators on the use of equipment from the China-based vendor.

Spain’s Telefónica said that it will use equipment from Nokia and Huawei for its 5G network in Germany, which followed that country’s move to not ban any vendor from those networks.