In order to align with regulatory requirements restricting the use of Huawei gear in core infrastructure, Telefonica plans to phase out the equipment from its 5G networks in Spain and Germany.
Telefonica COO Emilio Gayo told Reuters the operator is “reducing our exposure to Huawei” in both countries, where governments have mandated the phase-out of the Chinese vendor’s equipment from 5G core networks due to national security concerns.
In the UK, where a similar ban is in place, Gayo added that Telefonica’s exposure to Huawei is already “very, very low”. However, the operator confirmed it will continue using Huawei equipment in Brazil and other Latin American markets, where no such restrictions are in place. Reuters reported that Telefonica CEO Marc Murtra emphasised that equipment from all suppliers is subject to strict internal standards, ensuring security for the company and its customers.
Huawei has faced restrictions across European markets for a numbers of years, with governments citing national security risks. However, Spain did recently award a €12 million wiretap contract to Huawei, which was met with a warning from the European Commission.
According to The Financial Times, the European watchdog warned that Huawei “represents materially higher risks” than other suppliers.
However, a Huawei spokesperson told Mobile World Live that all of its products in Spain “fully comply with local laws, regulations, and applicable product admission criteria and standards”.
Regarding the wiretap equipment in question, OceanStor Dorado, the company stated it is “a common flash storage hardware” that adheres to Spain’s National Security Scheme and ICT security guidelines. “Huawei has no access to customer data, all the information stored in hardware belongs to and is at the exclusive disposal of the customer”, the spokesperson added.
Source: Mobile World Live
Image Credit: Huawei
