Portugal moves closer to banning Chinese suppliers from 5G

LISBON, Could possibly 26 (Reuters) – Portugal’s cybersecurity council CSSC has issued a resolution that could formally bar telecom operators from applying Chinese gear in their greater-speed 5G mobile networks as correctly 4G platforms on which the new technologies is mainly primarily based.

The CSSC is the prime minister’s consultative physique and its document, dated Could possibly 23, is a single much more blow to efforts by Chinese technologies giant Huawei (HWT.UL) to enter the 5G marketplace in Portugal and possibly extend existing contracts.

Beneath a law authorized final August, the government can establish “the exclusion, restrictions on use, or the cessation of use of gear or options” of telecom organizations, setting situations and deadlines for operators to comply.

The government had no immediate comment.

The country’s major operators, Altice, NOS (NOS.LS) and Vodafone (VOD.L) have at present stated they will not use Huawei’s gear in 5G core networks, amid European and U.S. concerns that Chinese involvement in important infrastructure could compromise security. Beijing and Huawei reject such concepts.

Portugal’s existing 5G networks are not standalone and nonetheless largely mainly primarily based on 4G technologies and gear.

With no mentioning China or any Chinese suppliers by name, the CSSC warned of a “greater danger” to security from suppliers or providers that “are headquartered in a nation specifically exactly where the government exercise routines manage, interference or strain on its activities in third nations”.

Its opinion is mainly primarily based on an undisclosed report that evaluated the safety of gear in public electronic communications networks involving 5G technologies.

It also cited security dangers when the nation specifically exactly where a supplier is mainly primarily based has no agreements on data protection, cybersecurity or protection of intellectual home with Portugal or the European Union, or when it is not an EU, NATO or OECD member.

Huawei stated in a statement it had “no prior data of, and hasn’t been consulted about this matter” and it was nonetheless gathering specifics “on the nature of the assessment” and hoped to continue serving Portuguese buyers.

Europe has emerged as a battleground in the technologies rivalry in in between Beijing and Washington and Huawei’s European competitors, Ericsson (ERICb.ST) and Nokia (NOKIA.HE), could create into a supplier duopoly if the Chinese organization had been shut out.

Reporting by Sergio Goncalves
Editing by Andrei Khalip and Mark Potter

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