Huawei has been affected by the trade war between the US and China for years. The Biden government already made it clear in 2020 that “Huawei is an extension of the Chinese government and a tool to extend its surveillance,” and prohibited the use of 5G equipment from this manufacturer. Now it is Europe that could do the same.
What happened. The EU is considering activating a mandatory veto so that member states can use 5G equipment from Chinese companies, including Huawei. This is indicated by sources close to the negotiations to the Financial Times, which explained how the situation in the old continent is now complex.
Europe divided. Only a third of EU countries have banned such Huawei equipment in their 5G infrastructures despite the fact that Brussels has long recommended that high-risk providers – such as Huawei – be excluded when making technological investments. For Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for internal markets, “that is too little. And it exposes the collective security of the Union.”
From recommendation to obligation? The initial measures of the EU – which was pressured by the US – consisted of the recommendations that were made at the beginning of 2020. Now EU sources indicate that those advice could become mandatory measures for member states.
But they will take time to activate. Even so, these obligations would still take a while to come into action. They probably would not do so before the end of 2024, when the five-year cycle of the current European Commission ends. That would also give time for the European Parliament and member countries to gradually support these terms and prepare for this new situation.
What Huawei says. The company defends itself by stating that “no court has ever found Huawei to have committed willful theft of intellectual property, or required Huawei to pay damages for infringing the intellectual property of others.” The accusations of espionage —they go back a long way— that Donald Trump raised from the beginning have never been proven, but the suspicions are numerous.
Beware of dependencies. The same sources that pointed to those plans also suggested that it is all due to the “cost of long-term dependencies” on China that this type of infrastructure could offer. That already happened with the dependence on Russia as an energy supplier before the Ukrainian War. “We know what it is to be dependent on others,” said one of those sources. Breton already warned that it was necessary to act urgently “to avoid creating important vulnerabilities that would be difficult to reverse.”
Portugal, an example of the radical turn. Our neighbors in Portugal, who until now had not activated the EU recommendations, have made a 180º turn and a few days ago announced a change in strategy. Documents from the Portuguese Cybersecurity Council raised the arguments for the ban on the use of Huawei 5G equipment, indicating that this imposed “a high risk”. What has happened in Portugal could also happen in our country, which until now has not banned the Chinese manufacturer. Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have already done so, for example, and Germany was analyzing the situation.
In Spain there are two major affected. As they point out in Expansión, this decision would especially affect Vodafone, whose 5G infrastructure is 70% based on Huawei equipment. Orange, with 50% of teams, would also be greatly affected. These telcos use Nokia (Vodafone) and Ericsson (Orange) technologies for their business cores. Telefónica does not use Huawei equipment, although it does use it partially in its core, which it is already planning to replace.
Imagen | CFI / Raw Pixel
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