BARCELONA - The telecoms industry is acutely aware of the need to ensure that ever-more complex mobile networks are safe, the head of its main lobby group told Reuters, as debate swirls over whether to bar some equipment vendors on national security grounds.
It has instead proposed a stronger Europe-wide testing regime to ensure that, as operators build next-generation 5G networks, smartphones and the billions of connected devices that will be hooked up to the ‘Internet of Things’ are protected from hackers. Huawei denies that it has ever spied for Beijing, and says no credible evidence has ever been presented that its gear allows illicit access to the country’s intelligences services.European industry leaders have called for the United States to substantiate its arguments. Vodafone CEO Nick Read said in Barcelona that this was needed to enable a “fact-based, risk-assessed review”.
It’s not yet clear whether that this similar rhetoric means Brussels will heed the industry’s arguments and refrain from imposing a blanket ban on Chinese suppliers.