France will not ban Huawei from its upcoming 5G networks

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France won’t ban the Chinese giant Huawei from its upcoming 5G telecommunication networks.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his government will not exclude Chinese telecom giant Huawei from the building of the upcoming 5G telecommunication networks. However, Macron said that France will favor European providers of 5G technology due to security concerns.

The Macron’s announcement comes after the meeting, held in Paris last week, with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The French President never hid his concerns for national security and already told Chinese President Xi Jinping about his preference for Western providers, such as Ericsson and Nokia,

“Macron said he had already told Chinese President Xi Jinping about his preference for companies such as Ericsson and Nokia, saying ‘you would do the same as me.'” reported the Associated Press agency.

“It’s normal that … we want a European solution” because of the importance of “the security of our communication,” Macron told reporters.

In July, the French information security agency ANSSI announced that Huawei Technologies Ltd. will be allowed to provide its 5G network equipment to French telecoms operators, but the licenses will be limited to eight years. Anyway, the French government will not allow the Chinese giant to provide equipment that will be used in protect military bases, nuclear installations and other sensitive and critical infrastructures.

In July, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced its decision to phase out the use of network equipment manufactured by the Chinese tech giant Huawei in the UK’s 5G network as little as six months.

The United States applauded the UK’s decision to ban equipment from China’s Huawei telecoms giant from its 5G network.

“We welcome news that the United Kingdom plans to ban Huawei from future 5G networks and phase out untrusted Huawei equipment from existing networks,” reads a statement from the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“We will continue to work with our British friends on fostering a secure and vibrant 5G ecosystem, which is critical to transatlantic security and prosperity.”

The decision comes after a new UK intelligence agency GCHQ’s report raised new security concerns over Huawei 5G equipment. The UK intelligence analysis believe that US ban on Chinese 5G technology will force Huawei to use untrusted technology.

In January the EU’s executive Commission presented a set of rules and technical measures aimed at reducing cybersecurity risks from the adoption of 5G networks. The Commission’s recommendations include blocking high-risk equipment suppliers from “critical and sensitive” components of 5G infrastructures, such as the core.

Pompeo also highlighted that the decision to exclude Chinese equipment from 5G networks was already adopted in a number of European states.

Other states worldwide are already replacing Chinese equipment, including Australia, India, Japan and South Korea.

“Countries need to be able to trust that 5G equipment and software will not threaten national security, economic security, privacy, intellectual property or human rights,” Pompeo said.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Huawei)