The roll-out of 5G networks in Britain could be delayed, Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said, adding that he would not trade off the economic benefit of using cheap kit with security risk.

"There is certainly the possibility of a delay in the process of the roll out of 5G: If you want to do 5G fastest then you do that without any consideration for security," he told lawmakers.

"But we not prepared to do that. So I don't exclude the possibility that there will be some delay."

"The primary intention of this process is to get the security of the network right."

Wright was not able to say when the report into network security would be published, but he added that he hoped it would "not be too long from now".