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Sweden Bans Huawei and ZTE from Its 5G Networks

October 21, 2020 2:50 am

Beijing (PingWest)—The Swedish telecoms regulator said Tuesday that it had decided to ban Huawei and ZTE from building new high-speed wireless networks, 

It gave telecoms operators until 2025 to remove equipment made by the Chinese companies from their existing infrastructure for core functions.

The US pushes its allies to exclude Chinese telecoms equipment from planned 5G mobile networks, and Sweden is the latest country to prohibit Huawei from playing a role in building 5G networks. 

EU members have been stepping up scrutiny of so-called high-risk vendors. This subjects Huawei’s governance and technology to critical examination and is likely to lead other European operators to strip it from their networks. 

Nokia and Ericsson have been the main beneficiaries of the challenges facing Huawei.

Anders Ygeman, Sweden’s minister for energy and digitalization, said the new conditions would give rise to a “much more secure 5G network” but insisted they were not targeted at any individual country or company, despite only Huawei and ZTE having been named.

Europe was the largest 5G market for Huawei outside China, where the company has 32 5G contracts, followed by the Middle East with 11 and the Asia-Pacific with 10, Huawei 5G Product Line President Yang Chaobin said last year.