UK-based telco BT has missed the December 31, 2023, deadline for removing Huawei equipment from its network core.

First reported by The Telegraph, the company has successfully removed Huawei from its 4G and 5G services but has not yet managed the 2G and 3G services.

The removal of Huawei from all 4G and 5G data sessions and voice calls means that more than 99 percent of core traffic is now off of Huawei kit, a BT spokesperson told Bloomberg.

The December 31 deadline was the result of an extension offered by the UK Government. Plans to ban Huawei equipment were first announced in 2021 at which point BT began the rip-and-replace process. The original deadline was in January 2023.

Network operators were warned by the UK government that failure to meet deadlines would see the companies fined 10 percent of their revenue, or £100,000 ($126,560) for every day they aren't compliant.

The company has previously estimated that removing Huawei from its networks would cost around £500 million ($633m) between 2020 and 2025.

It is unlikely that BT has seen the actualization of these fines of yet, as Ofcom first has to report on whether the telcos have managed to meet the deadlines. That report isn't expected until March 31.

The Register reports that BT informed the publication that the company had not formally requested another deadline extension and that it would provide information to Ofcom as needed.

DCD has contacted BT for further information.

The next Huawei rip-and-replace deadline is not until 2027, which will see all operators removing the Chinese company's equipment from both core networks and RAN (radio access networks).

BT is largely replacing Huawei equipment with kit from Ericsson.