A thread about European single market that certainly isn’t a common one when operators and telecom market are concerned. According to SCMP, out of 50 commercial contracts that Huawei has signed, 28 are with operators in Europe, incl. Deutsche Telecom (new deals freezed), 1/
Vodafone Spain, Vodafone UK, EE (UK), Elisa(Finland), Orange(Spain), NOS(Portugal) &many more. Although Huawei’s equipment has triggered national security concerns, n even that the European Commission in March issued a non-binding recommendation on Cybersecurity of 5G networks 2/
but without a binding strategy and regulation (or standard) on 5G security, the decisions are left with individual member states and in many cases de facto individual telecoms operators. Markets are fragmented with tens of different security standards. Simultaneously, 3/
the heads of European telecom operators ridicule and belittle regulators’ concerns. Orange’s CEO has said “fears about Huawei are complete nonsense” (Reuters) and Vodafone’s group CEO “Scrutiny of Huawei was holding back European tech development”. (MobileWorldLive) 4/
Within the industry most comments are still stuck w spying and backdoors while praising the competitive price and unbeatable speed of Huawei. Two things, imo, have been left without much attention. First, it doesn’t seem to bother European operators that 5/
Huawei is de facto state-connected company that has enjoyed considerable state subsidies which has allowed it to beat European competitors. Should Nokia or Ericsson be subsided similarly, it would open a WTO case. Second & more important is a security risk that is not spying. 6/
We witness constantly how the PRC officials threaten sovereign states w consequences if they turn down Huawei. Who in their right mind can trust that these threats will end once the country’s critical network is build on Chinese state-controlled technology? Comments welcomed 7/7
