Huawei and ZTE have been banned from Sweden’s 5G networks

The UK is also pulling Huawei from its networks as soon as 2025.

What you need to know

• Sweden has joined other countries in limiting Huawei’s access to its 5G networks.
• The country has also asked that Huawei equipment be removed from critical telecoms equipment by 2025.
• The new order also bars ZTE from operating in the country.

Huawei continues to face difficulty as European countries back away from using its services for their nascent 5G networks.

This week, it was Sweden who chose to restrict Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network, citing advice from the Swedish Armed Forces and the Swedish Security Service.

“New installations and new implementation of central functions for the radio use in the frequency bands must not be carried out with products from the suppliers Huawei or ZTE,” the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority stated, adding, “If existing infrastructure for central functions is to be used to provide services in the concerned frequency bands, products from Huawei and ZTE must be phased out 1 January 2025 at the latest.”

In a comment to Reuters, Huawei decried the move, saying:

There are no factual grounds to support allegations of Huawei posing any security threat.
The exclusion of Huawei is simply based on groundless presumption and is unfair and unacceptable.

This comes after the United Kingdom opted to remove Huawei from its 5G network by 2027, with a later reccomendation pushing for a 2025 timeline instead. Huawei had accused that ban as being based on “opinion.”

Huawei had been accused of being a security risk by the United States government in recent years. While the company has been under siege legally for other dubious activity including IP theft and racketerring, it continues to note that allegations revolving around national security have never been proven.