Swedish court suspended the ban on Huawei equipment

A Swedish administrative court has suspended the ban on Huawei equipment from the national 5G network.

A Swedish administrative court ins Stockholm has suspended the decision to ban Huawei equipment from the country’s 5G network.

In October, Sweden announced the ban of Chinese tech companies Huawei and ZTE from building its 5G network infrastructure. The ban aims at new installations and new implementation of central functions for the radio use in the frequency bands.

The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority announced that four wireless carriers bidding for frequencies in an upcoming spectrum auction for the new 5G networks (Hi3G Access, Net4Mobility, Telia Sverige and Teracom) cannot use network equipment from the Chinese firms.

The Swedish telecom regulator is also urging carriers to replace any existing equipment from Huawei or ZTE by January 1st, 2025, at the latest.

The decision is the result of assessments made by the Swedish military and security service.

Now a ruling by the Stockholm administrative court obliged the PTS to postpone an auction of 5G network frequencies that was due to have taken place on Tuesday.

Huawei contests the ban by arguing that there was “no concrete evidence of a cyber security threat” posed by the company, and insisted that “the Chinese state cannot order Huawei to spy”.

The Chines giant claims that the ban could have a dramatic impact on its business.

The court is asking PTS to provides its arguments to allow it to take a decision on the merits of the case.

Sweden is the latest country to ban Huawei from participating in building 5G networks.

Recently Belgian telecoms operators Orange Belgium and Proximus announced that it will gradually replace the equipment from the Chinese manufacturer Huawei.

The U.S. is pushing its allies for banning Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese companies, Washington highlighted the risks for national security in case of adoption of Huawei equipment and is urging internet providers and telco operators in allied countries to ban Chinese firms.

The Chinese giant was already excluded by several countries from building their 5G internet networks. The United States, Australia, New Zealand, Romania, and Japan announced the exclusion of Huawei technology for their 5G internet networks.

In April 2018, the UK GCHQ intelligence agency warned UK telcos firms of the risks of using ZTE equipment and services for their infrastructure.

In December 2018, a Czech cyber-security agency is warned against using Huawei and ZTE technologies because they pose a threat to state security.

In September, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) estimated the cost of a full replacement of all Huawei and ZTE hardware on American wireless networks at $1.837bn.

Klas Friberg, the head of Sweden’s domestic security service (SAPO) declared that foreign states have intensified their intelligence activity and the protection of 5G networks from cyber espionage and hacking campaign from threat actors is crucial for homeland security.

[adrotate banner=”9″]

[adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Chrome zero-day)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]