Sources quoted by Reuters reported that Telecom Italia, one of Huawei’s biggest customers in Europe, is planning to cancel its contract with the company, which would deal a major blow to Huawei.
The picture shows Telecom Italia’s logo.
It is reported that, up to now, China’s Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corporation together control about 40% of the global base station market. Despite repeated challenges from the U.S., Huawei still boasts of other 5G vendors around the world by offering attractive prices as the main force.
Citing Reuters, the Central News Agency reported that Telecom Italia is planning to cancel a contract with Huawei that allowed it to provide equipment to partially participate in the construction of Italy’s 5G network.
A source told Reuters that Telecom Italia has sent a letter to Huawei informing it of its intention to cancel the contract. The letter was first disclosed by the Italian newspaper Il Sole24 Ore (24 Hours of the Sun).
Two other sources said Telecom Italia initially planned to sign with Huawei and Ericsson, then added Nokia, and now the entire contract will be split between Ericsson and Nokia.
The Italian government has not completely banned Huawei, but current legislation requires the government to set strict conditions for 5G contracts with non-European Union (EU) suppliers, according to the statement.
The sources said Telecom Italia did not invite Huawei to participate in bidding for the construction of the 5G network core last year. Reuters believes that the loss of Telecom Italia, a major customer, will be a blow to Huawei.
In December 2019, the Italian parliament’s national security committee had shouted to the government that it should consider blocking Huawei and another Chinese company, ZTE, from participating in the country’s 5G network development.
The next month, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio ignored the U.S. warning that Huawei threatened national security, saying Italy could effectively protect the country’s information security and had no intention of concluding trade agreements that could undermine national sovereignty.
On December 22 of the same year, the then Minister of Economic Development, Stefano Patuanelli, also backed Huawei, saying that it should be allowed to participate in Italy’s 5G construction.
However, in July 2020, news broke again that the Italian government was considering excluding Huawei from 5G construction projects.
The picture shows the logo of Telecom Italia.
During his time in office, former U.S. President Donald Trump slammed Huawei as a Chinese Communist Trojan horse and a threat to national security, so the U.S. issued an export ban on Huawei in May 2000, and also urged allies to exclude Huawei from 5G construction. The Biden administration amended the license for companies to sell products to Huawei Technologies in March this year, expanding restrictions on the supply of items used in 5th generation mobile communications technology (5G) devices.
The UK will restrict Huawei’s participation in line engineering to 35% by 2023, and all telecoms providers will not be allowed to have Huawei products after 2027. Sweden and France have banned the use of Huawei’s equipment for domestic 5G networks.
The Indian government passed an amendment to the telecom licensing norms on the 10th of this month, and from June 15, Indian telecom vendors can only purchase telecom equipment from trusted sources approved by designated agencies, which is considered to exclude the participation of Chinese telecom equipment vendors such as Huawei and ZTE.
On the 15th, the Romanian government approved a U.S.-backed bill to ban China and Huawei from participating in Romania’s 5G network development.
The German parliament passed an information system security law on the 23rd, setting strict security standards for communications equipment. Although not directly naming Huawei, it is tantamount to excluding Huawei from the construction of 5G networks.
People wearing masks visit a Huawei store in Wuhan on May 26, 2020.
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