LONDON: Vodafone, the world’s second largest mobile operator, said it was “pausing” the deployment of Huawei equipment in its core networks until Western governments resolve concerns about the Chinese firm’s activities.
Huawei faces increasing scrutiny over its ties with the Chinese government and has denied allegations that its technology could be used by Beijing for spying.
Vodafone’s Chief Executive Nick Read said on Friday after reporting third-quarter results that the debate was playing out at a “too simplistic level”, adding that Huawei was an important player in an equipment market dominated by three companies.
“Given that, we have decided to pause further Huawei in our core whilst we engage with the various agencies and governments and Huawei just to finalise
the situation, of which I feel Huawei is really open and working hard,” he said.
Read said Huawei’s equipment was used in Vodafone’s core — which he described as the
intelligent part of the network — in Spain and some other smaller markets.
Huawei overtook Sweden’s Ericsson to become the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker earlier this decade, despite being shut out of the US market. The third major player is Nokia.
A Huawei spokesman said it had been a long-term strategic partner to Vodafone since 2007, adding that Huawei understood Vodafone was only pausing deployment in its core networks in Europe.
“Huawei is focused on supporting Vodafone’s 5G network rollouts, of which the core is a small proportion,” he said.
“We are grateful to Vodafone for its support of Huawei and we will endeavour to live up to the trust placed in us.”
Read said Europe’s mobile industry would face higher costs and delays to faster networks if authorities imposed a blanket ban on Huawei equipment, particularly the radio technology deployed on mobile towers.
“It would be a significant implication for the European telco industry, for capital costs and 5G roll-out, which would face a significant delay,” he said. — Reuters
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