Aside from the ban placed on Huawei, the US government has continued to mount pressure on its allies to boycott Huawei’s 5G gears. The US’ effort has been yielding results as some countries like the UK are already contemplating making a U-turn. On the other hand, France may not be planning an outright ban at the moment but the European country won’t be encouraging telecommunication companies to use Huawei’s 5G gears.
Reuters credits the head of the French cybersecurity agency ANSSI to have stated that there would not be a total ban on using equipment from Huawei in the rollout of the French 5G telecoms network, but that it was pushing French telcos to avoid switching to the Chinese company.
“What I can say is that there won’t be a total ban. (But) for operators that are not currently using Huawei, we are inciting them not to go for it,” Guillaume Poupard told Les Echos newspaper in an interview.
Reuters attributes sources to have disclosed in March that France would not ban Huawei but just like the UK and other countries, would seek to keep the Chinetech giant out of the core mobile network. The core mobile network carries higher surveillance risks because it processes sensitive information such as customers’ personal data.
The U.S. government has repeatedly claimed that Huawei’s5G gears could be used by China to spy on the West, hence the sustained pressure on allies to use alternatives instead of the Chinese company. The US has even offered to provide funding for countries to buy 5G gears from Huawei’s rivals.
Huawei has severally denied that its 5G gears pose any security risk from China.
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