EU considering ban on Huawei 5G – FT

The European Union (EU) is considering a mandatory ban on member-states using companies that might pose a security risk in their 5G networks, including China’s Huawei, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The move comes as a response to increasing concerns in Brussels about certain national governments delaying action on the matter, the officials told the newspaper.

EU and Huawei did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

In 2020, the EU said member-states can either restrict or exclude high-risk 5G vendors such as Huawei from core parts of their telecoms network and resisted pressure back then from Washington for an outright ban on Chinese telcos.

In a meeting last Friday, the EU’s internal market commissioner Thierry Breton informed telecoms ministers that only a third of EU countries had implemented Huawei bans in critical areas, the report said.

As guidance fell short of a ban in 2020, the EU could introduce a mandatory ban on companies deemed to present a security risk, should member-states such as Germany continue to delay, FT added.

Our Take:

This would deteriorate political concerns and business perspectives, the EU is clearly following in the footstep of the US. Also, it shows that the EU doesn’t want Huawei to compete against others in the 5G telecom business and the ban is the only way to stop it.