France has imposed a “de-facto” ban on Huawei Technologies. Sources from the French National Cybersecurity Agency, Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information (ANSSI), said that they would authorise the use of Huawei’s equipment for a period of three to eight years and will not renew licences once they expire. In essence, French network operators will be required to phase out Huawei technology by 2028. The decision is predicted to severely impact French carriers such as Bouygues Telecom and SFR, both of whom heavily rely on Huawei for their 4G equipment.
Last week, following the seventh High-Level Economic and Financial Dialogue between France and China, French finance minister Bruno le Maire reassured that France had no intentions of imposing a “blanket ban” on Huawei. However, he added that certain websites of “particular sensitivity” to France’s national security would continue to remain protected. The joint statement that concluded the meet read: “Both sides will join efforts to secure a fair and non-discriminatory market environment and encourage businesses from all countries to participate in the 5G network construction in line with market principles and security principles.”
However, France’s decision to gradually push Huawei out is not entirely unexpected. For weeks now, French authorities have been disincentivising local companies from using Huawei. In early July, ANSSI said that while there was no “total ban” in the near future, companies that were not using Huawei’s equipment were being urged to “not go for it”. Further, French-Chinese tensions have been brewing and have escalated this year too. It started with the statement by the Chinese embassy criticising France’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The situation was further worsened by the implementation of the National Security Legislation in Hong Kong, following which France called for sanctions to be imposed against China in the European Parliament.
France is the second European country to take such a stand against Huawei. Following sustained American pressure and amidst its opposition to China’s imposition of the new national security law in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom (UK) performed a massive U-turn by banning telecom providers from buying Huawei’s 5G equipment. In addition, it has also ordered them to remove the Chinese tech firm’s 5G equipment from their networks by 2027. The decision was announced by Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden in front of the House of Commons.
China’s ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, called the announcement “disappointing and wrong” and decried the lack of an “open, fair, and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from other countries” in the UK. His sentiments were echoed by the Chinese foreign ministry, and he also warned of “consequences” if Britain goes further down this path of treating China as an enemy rather than a friend. Likewise, he also accused the UK of “dancing to the tune” of the US.