Sweden has decided to exclude China’s Huawei and ZTE from the construction of the country’s 5G network for national security reasons, and has decided to dismantle related equipment already installed. The United Kingdom made the same decision in July this year. This was announced today by Sweden’s official agency in charge of bidding for the 5G network on the 20th.
Sweden is the second country after the UK to announce the exclusion of Huawei and ZTE 5G, and the first country in the European Union to explicitly ban Huawei from participating in all infrastructure for its 5G network.
Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia are both competitors of China’s Huawei in the 5G space. According to an official statement from the Swedish telecom authorities, the decision was based on a new law passed in Sweden earlier this year and on assessments by military and intelligence authorities. The purpose of these assessments is to “ensure that the use of frequencies does not jeopardize Sweden’s national security. The tender for Sweden’s 5G network is scheduled to open on November 10.
Beijing reacted to the decision in Stockholm. The Chinese Embassy in Sweden issued a statement saying: “We strongly oppose the abuse of the concept of ‘national security’ without any factual basis or solid evidence, which violates the rules of the market and the principle of fair competition. The statement also regretted “the artificially created barriers to cooperation by banning Chinese companies on the basis of unfounded allegations.
According to the statement from the Swedish telecom authorities, Huawei and China’s other major telecom equipment manufacturer, ZTE, will be banned from accessing all “central functions” of Swedish 5G, i.e., covering more or less the entire network.
The statement also said that any installed Huawei or ZTE equipment that could be used for 5G will be removed by January 1, 2025. London has set a deadline of 2027 for the removal of Huawei’s installed equipment.
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