EU Commissioner Urges Tougher Stance on Unsecure Telecom Gear

Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for the internal market, urged member states to do more to ban high-risk suppliers like Huawei and ZTE from their telecom networks. “The security of 5G networks is essential,” Breton said last week: “They are critical infrastructures in their own right and for other sectors that depend on them, such as energy, transport, health and finance.” To date, only 10 EU members have acted to restrict or exclude high-risk vendors, he said. Breton called that pace “too slow” and said it “poses a major security risk and exposes the Union's collective security, since it creates a major dependency for the EU and serious vulnerabilities.” The EU will work with member states and telecom providers, he said. “I can only emphasize the importance of speeding up decisions to replace high-risk suppliers from their 5G networks,” he said. “Huawei will make the road ahead difficult and will attempt to sabotage the European Commission’s efforts” and nations and providers “should prepare for pushback,” John Strand of Strand Consult blogged. “The foundation of any economy, be it the EU, the US or China, is national security,” he said: “Some may find the EU approach tough, but it pales in comparison the blockade that China has imposed on foreign technology providers for years.” A Huawei spokesperson disputed the EU statement. “This is clearly not based on a verified, transparent, objective and technical assessment of 5G networks,” the spokesperson emailed: “Huawei understands the European Commission’s concern to protect cybersecurity within the EU. However, restrictions or exclusions based on discriminatory judgments will pose serious economic and social risks. It would hamper innovation and distort the EU market. An Oxford Economics report states that excluding Huawei could increase 5G investment costs by up to tens of billions of euros, and it will have to be paid by European consumers.”