France Starts Huawei Equipment Removal
Early last month the highest court in France ruled that the provisions in the government’s 2019 “anti-Huawei (pvt) Law” were constitutional and held to the law’s aim of ‘safeguarding the interests of national defense and security and protecting radio networks from the risk of espionage, piracy, and sabotage.” The law, which limited the number of licenses issued by governmental agencies for operating equipment produced by Huawei. The ruling was the result of a challenge by two French telecom companies, SFR (pvt) and Bouygues Telecom (EN.FP) that faced replacing over 3,000 mobile base stations made by Huawei by 2028, with the government also indicating that it would not compensate carrier for losses or the cost of the changes, despite the mandate.
Under the law, carriers must dismantle Huawei equipment in densely populated areas during any network upgrades and demolition and replacement work has been initiated in a number of French cities, where Huawei 4G equipment is being removed. SFR is replacing the 4G equipment with 5G base stations and software from Nokia (NOK) equipment, while Bouygues is replacing with Ericsson (ERIC). This all comes despite the early 2020 pledge by the French Foreign Minister that Huawei would not be prohibited from investing in France, with the government now stating that it hopes to find a ‘balance between sanctions and operations’ that would allow Huawei to act as a supplier while preventing the company from participating in a ‘more important part of France’s wireless infrastructure.’ Good luck with that! Huawei set up an R&D center in Paris last October across the street from the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde which we guess might become available real estate soon.
Under the law, carriers must dismantle Huawei equipment in densely populated areas during any network upgrades and demolition and replacement work has been initiated in a number of French cities, where Huawei 4G equipment is being removed. SFR is replacing the 4G equipment with 5G base stations and software from Nokia (NOK) equipment, while Bouygues is replacing with Ericsson (ERIC). This all comes despite the early 2020 pledge by the French Foreign Minister that Huawei would not be prohibited from investing in France, with the government now stating that it hopes to find a ‘balance between sanctions and operations’ that would allow Huawei to act as a supplier while preventing the company from participating in a ‘more important part of France’s wireless infrastructure.’ Good luck with that! Huawei set up an R&D center in Paris last October across the street from the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde which we guess might become available real estate soon.
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