Huawei is facing pressure from the US, which is calling for its equipment to be blocked by its allies - AP

Cutting Huawei out of the UK's planned high-speed mobile network would cost £7bn and delay its launch for years, a report backed by Britain's biggest network operators has claimed.

The Chinese telecoms company, which has been at the centre of espionage claims from US security services, has come under pressure from European network operators over its role in the launch of faster 5G mobile network technology.

US officials have called for Huawei to be blocked by its allies, while MPs have voiced concern over China's influence over its domestic companies.

However, the telecoms industry has warned that blocking Huawei equipment from the UK's 5G infrastructure would lower inward investment, hit consumers and damage the UK's economic standing.

According to Mobile UK, the trade group representing the UK's network operators including O2, EE, Vodafone and Three, restricting the use of Huawei equipment in the region would delay the launch of the fast network technology by between 18 months and two years. This delay would cost the UK economy between £4.5bn and £6.8bn, the report said.

View photos

“The importance of early 5G leadership to realise the economic benefits of the technology can’t be understated,” the report said. “If any restriction were to be imposed on Huawei, many of the benefits associated with 5G leadership could be lost for good.”

Some UK network operators already keep Huawei out of the “core” of their systems, but Huawei has continued to work with the likes of Vodafone and Three on their trials of 5G technology.

Most operators use a mix of equipment from three major vendors, China's Huawei, Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia.

US security services have repeatedlyaccused Huawei of having links to the Chinese state and posing a security risk, something Huawei has always denied.

Earlier this year, Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone, warned a ban on Huawei in the UK would be “hugely disruptive to national infrastructure consumers, very, very expensive, [and] will delay 5G in Europe for probably two years".

Huawei was criticised last month in a report from the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre, a monitor which is overseen by the head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre.

The report said there remained “significant issues” with Huawei's current practices. The NCSC has previously said it believes it can mitigate any risk from Huawei to the UK.