A group in Portugal called ANACOM is working with big phone companies to make sure that Huawei Technologies’ equipment is not used in the country’s growing 5G mobile networks.
Huawei’s plans to be a major player in Portugal’s 5G market have taken a big hit with this move, which comes amid legal complaints from the Chinese tech giant.
The National Communications Authority of Portugal (ANACOM) has said again that it will follow through on security choices that are in line with both national goals and European rules. By working together with telecom companies like Altice, NOS, and Vodafone, Portugal is showing that it is serious about making its 5G networks safer.
A resolution was passed by Portugal’s Prime Minister’s Consultative Council for Strategic Cybersecurity (CSSC) in May. It didn’t directly name Huawei, but it was seen by many as a setback to Huawei’s plans.
The decision, which was based on a thorough and independent security review that followed EU rules, has made Portugal’s biggest telecom companies decide not to use Huawei equipment in their 5G core networks.
When these events happened, Huawei, a world leader in making telecom equipment, filed a case in a Lisbon court at the end of August to protect its legal interests. The legal conflict makes things even more complicated as they change.
Even though the CSSC’s resolution doesn’t directly target Chinese suppliers, it shows that people in Europe and the US are becoming more worried about how Chinese involvement in key infrastructure could affect security.
Both Beijing and Huawei strongly deny these claims, but worries in Europe and the US still exist.
The head of the CSSC and Portugal’s Secretary of State for Digitalization, Mario Campolargo, has stressed how carefully and together the government and ANACOM are dealing with these security issues. The fact that these groups work together so closely shows that they both want to protect Portugal’s information infrastructure.
President of ANACOM, Joao Cadete de Matos, said he was confident that the decision would be carried out successfully and emphasized the need to wait to see how the Huawei lawsuit develops. The ongoing court case makes the situation even more complicated and shows how it might affect Huawei’s presence in Portugal’s telecom industry.
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