T-Mobile to replace China’s Huawei 5G technology with Swedish Ericsson, Telecom News, ET Telecom
The contract with the current supplier Huawei, which was signed in 2017, will not be renewed. The decision was made after the rules were tightened over the use of Huawei technology due to fears of espionage, local media reported.
Previously, T-Mobile relied almost entirely on Chinese technology until a few years ago. The management and maintenance of the network was also outsourced by T-Mobile to Huawei.
The decision to replace Huawei with Ericsson is not surprising given China’s laws requiring state-owned companies to cooperate with its intelligence services.
“T-Mobile has entered into a long-term commitment with Ericsson to provide the mobile radio network for both 5G and current 3G and 4G,” says T-Mobile.
Telecom providers in the Netherlands have been informed that they will receive compensation if they dispose of their networks of “unreliable providers / equipment”, local media said.
In the past, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States have also imposed restrictions or banned Huawei equipment from their 5G network.
At the same time, KPN is the only Dutch telecom that uses Huawei in the 5G network but has removed it from the core network, for which they have hired Ericsson, reported local media.
Huawei is now only limited to peripheral networks when it comes to KPN.