But times are tough for the Chinese telecoms equipment maker.

Huawei has been under severe international scrutiny in recent months for its alleged close links to the Chinese government.

Ed Brewster, UK communications director at Huawei, says: "We would never sell network equipment into the UK that we would then access illegally or without the permission of our customers from outside of the UK.

"Not only would that be a gross breach of trust of legal terms with our customers, that would obviously be against UK law and we would cease to be able to operate here."