A smartphone with the Huawei and 5G network logo is seen on a PC motherboard in this illustration picture taken January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
PARIS (Reuters) – France will authorize the use of some of Huawei’s equipment in the rollout of its 5G network, two sources close to the matter told Reuters, despite U.S. calls to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from the West’s next-generation communications.
The French cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, is due to tell telecoms operators which equipment they are allowed to use for the deployment of their 5G network in France, but has not made public any decision.
The two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said ANSSI had decided to approve the use of Huawei gear, but only for what they described as non-core parts of the network, as these pose less significant security risks.
“They don’t want to ban Huawei, but the principle is: ‘Get them out of the core mobile network’,” one of the two sources said.
A spokeswoman for ANSSI declined to comment.
Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing by Christian Lowe