Sweden has banned Chinese telecommunications equipment makers Huawei and ZTE from participating in its 5G network rollout, the country’s top telecoms regulator said Tuesday.
Why it matters: The development shows European countries are tightening restrictions on Chinese suppliers for their 5G infrastructure, signaling the US government’s campaign to eliminate Huawei equipment from Western communications networks is gaining traction.
- Swedish company Ericsson, a key rival to Huawei, has been selected to supply parts for 5G core networks belonging to China’s three state-owned telecom companies.
- The decision may mean that Sweden could face retaliation from China. Ericsson relies on China to produce some equipment it designs and China’s Ministry of Commerce is mulling export controls that would prevent the company from sending products it makes there to other countries, the Wall Street Journal reported in July citing people familiar with the matter.
Details: Sweden’s top telecom regulator Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) is set to hold spectrum auctions on Nov. 10. The government body said in a statement Tuesday that potential license grantees must not use products from Huawei and ZTE in new central function installations.
- Existing infrastructure for central functions containing products from Huawei and ZTE must be phased out before Jan. 1, 2025, the regulator said.
- PTS said in the statement that the conditions were based on assessments made by the Swedish Armed Forces and the Swedish Security Service.
- Klas Friberg, head of the Swedish Security Service, said Tuesday that “China is one of the biggest threats to Sweden” and that the country must consider when building the 5G network what he called the Chinese state’s cyber espionage conducts.
- Huawei said in a statement to TechNode Wednesday that it is “surprised and disappointed” by the Swedish government’s decision and that “there is not any factual ground to support allegations of Huawei posing any security threat.”
- “We find the exclusion of Huawei simply based on groundless presumption unfair and unacceptable,” the company said. It also called on Sweden to “reevaluate” the decision.
- ZTE did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Huawei’s future in EU: The US government has been campaigning its allies to avoid Huawei equipment from their networks since last year.
- So far, some US allies such as Australia and Japan have imposed de-facto bans on Huawei. Some European countries like the UK and France decided to phase out Huawei equipment over the next few years.
- Many Western European countries, which are mostly member states of the European Union (EU), including Germany, Italy, and Spain, are on the fence.
- The EU’s stance on Huawei is relatively clear—it has released a “toolbox” and guidelines on how member states should evaluate 5G gear provider risks and trustworthiness without mentioning any specific country or company. However, its member states are taking various approaches.
- The toolbox and guidelines are not legally binding, so the results depend on how countries interpret and implement them. One example is Belgium, whose major telecom operators had chosen European vendors Ericsson and Nokia to build their 5G networks. This approach avoided enraging Beijing and largely followed Washington’s will. But the question is whether this will become the norm.
- “Huawei’s expulsion from all of Europe’s core networks seems to be a question of when, not if,” Jan Stryjak, associate director at market research firm Counterpoint, wrote in an article published in September.
- Stryjak told TechNode in a recent interview that he said as much because “more and more countries are opting to remove Huawei from their core networks in place of alternative vendors like Nokia or Ericsson.”
- “Since no country would want to be alone in bucking the trend, solidarity seems to be the name of the game, which is bad news for Huawei,” he said.