Telecom operators will know in February if they have the right to use Huawei's 5G equipment

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While the procedure for allocating 5G frequencies has already started, telecom operators still do not know whether they will be entitled to acquire equipment from Huawei. A situation which has lasted for several months and which tends to tense them up, so much investment should be colossal to deploy this network. In an interview with Echoes published this Monday, January 20, 2020, Guillaume Poupard, director general of the National Agency for the security of information systems (Anssi), reacted for the first time to their criticisms … wagering that the answers to their authorization requests will be "issued in February".

A TOTALLY INDEPENDENT MEASURE

The intervention of ANSSI in this process is completely new. Made compulsory since the vote of the so-called "Huawei" law in the summer of 2019, it aims to ensure that the choices of telecom operators in terms of antennas and core networks do not compromise national security. In fact, it also bans questionable equipment from sectors hosting places of power. For the first time in the history of mobile telephony, the public authority will somehow dictate to the players in the sector which companies to collaborate with. And that makes them feverish.

For Bouygues Telecom and SFR, Huawei's ban would entail the obligation to partially rebuild their 3G and 4G networks … which are already based on equipment supplied by the Chinese equipment supplier. "Obviously they are stressed and we are not there to add stress, we are there for safety, indicated to our colleagues Guillaume Poupard, stressing that the response time cannot exceed two months after the filing of the file. We know that if we let the operators do everything alone, sovereignty issues will not be taken into account. This is the reason why they must ask the ANSSI for authorizations on their choice of equipment manufacturers. "

A TRANSITION envisioned IN THE EVENT OF REFUSAL

Beyond the existing networks, the consequences would also be significant for the deployment of 5G in France. Experts believe that the total cost of the procedure could skyrocket if the Chinese telecoms giant, which offers good value for money, is banned. "Tell operators overnight: you will no longer be able to use this equipment supplier, it's very hard, we can't do that to them, admits Guillaume Poupard. But, at the same time, it cannot be a weakness indefinitely, because they are not ad vitam æternam solutions. We will find a good balance. "

Yes Orange is not dependent on Huawei hardware for previous generations of mobile phones, it has shown its interest in the lotus brand on 5G. Free should not feel a possible ban. Xavier Niel’s telecoms operator has already signed a partnership with its long-standing partner, Nokia. At the Finnish equipment supplier and its Swedish competitor Ericsson, who is about to open an R&D center in France, the lights are green. Europeans are capitalizing on lingering doubts about product safety from Chinese Huawei and ZTE. With 74 and 50 commercial contracts to their credit, they are respectively on the first and third steps of the podium. A gap that could widen with the proposal of American senators, last week, to finance Western alternatives to the tune of one billion dollars.

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