Pentagon eyeing 5G solutions with Huawei rivals Ericsson and Nokia: official – Reuters
What happened: The US Department of Defense is talking to Huawei rivals Ericsson and Nokia about its 5G development plans, according to Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer. The US is also laying the groundwork to develop its own technology to support 5G-enabled communications, Lord said. She added that the military-to-military discussions about future 5G networks were going well for the United States, with many European allies “leaning forward” to engage in a dialog on its development.
Why it’s important: Following its August ban of Huawei equipment purchases citing security risks, the US government has also warned European Union members about using Huawei technology, which it said could undermine transatlantic military and intelligence co-operation. The European Commission will ignore US calls to ban Huawei equipment and leave it to individual countries to decide on national security grounds while recommending that members share more data to tackle cybersecurity risks related to 5G networks, according to Reuters.