On 20 October 2020, the Swedish government announced that it has blocked Chinese tech-giants Huawei and ZTE from gaining access to its new 5G wireless network, following the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority’s (“PTS“) assessment of tenderers. The ban on Huawei and ZTE was imposed following a security assessment made by the Swedish Armed Forces and the Swedish Security Service, citing cyber espionage concerns.
The ban also requires Swedish telecommunication companies to remove any Huawei and ZTE products currently being used in existing infrastructure for the radio access network, the transmission network, the core network, and the service and maintenance network, before 2025.
The Swedish exclusion of Huawei is similar to bans previously imposed by Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Prior to the PTS’ statement, Swedish ministers and authorities had been hesitant to single out any individual company. The full decision (Swedish language version) can be found here.
The four remaining companies allowed to place its bids from 10 November for the construction of the new 5G wireless network are Hi3G Access, Net4Mobility, Telia Sweden and Teracom.
