Lekha G –
A Swedish Court upheld a ban on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies selling 5G equipment in the country.
Swedish telecom regulator, Post and Telecom Authority banned the company in October from supplying 5G equipment to Swedish mobile firms due to security concerns raised by Sweden’s security service SAPO.
The said decision was challenged by the Chinese company in the Court but however lost its initial appeal in December.
A statement from the company said that the regulator had “Failed to produce any facts or evidence to demonstrate that Huawei’s equipment has technical security issues.”
European Governments have been tightening controls on Chinese companies building 5G networks due to diplomatic pressure from Washington, which alleges Huawei equipment could be used by Beijing for spying. The EU had also encouraged member states to stop using suppliers that may add to cybersecurity risks.
Ericsson, a competitor and a customer of Huawei raised concerns about banning Huawei saying that it “Singles out our Chinese competitor in a way no other EU country has done,” and further flagged risks of losing market share and facing retaliation in China.
Former Foreign Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said, “We urge Sweden to immediately correct its approach, considering the overall position of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and meet China halfway to find a workable solution.”
However, the SAPO representative declined to comment on the issue and referred questions to PTS.