Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm has sharply criticized the planned exclusion of the competitor Huawei from the 5G expansion in Sweden. “Ericsson and Sweden were built with free trade,” Ekholm told the Financial Times. “I think it’s important that we have open markets and free competition.” The exclusion of a provider only leads to delays in the expansion.

The supplier’s CEO criticized the regulatory authority’s decision to exclude Huawei from the expansion of the Swedish networks in the award conditions for 5G frequencies, Ekholm welcomed the Decision of the Stockholm Administrative Court to suspend and review the exclusion for the time being. “It is important that such decisions are checked,” Ekholm told the newspaper.

EU toolbox “is a good set of rules” The Ericsson CEO criticized the Swedish interpretation of the EU framework for network security. With the “Toolbox” presented at the end of January, the EU made recommendations to the member states and left the door open for Huawei. “I think these are a good set of rules,” said Ekholm. But the Swedish government apparently has its “own interpretation”.

Ekholm warned that delays in the 5G expansion could set Europeans back again, and recalled the experiences with LTE. “Think of 4G: while we were debating the killer application in Europe, the Americans and Chinese have expanded rapidly – and the apps market is now dominated by American and Chinese companies.”

That Stockholm administrative court had temporarily invalidated Huawei’s exclusion from the auction of 5G frequencies in Sweden last week after Huawei sued. The regulatory authority PTS then canceled the start of the frequency auction at short notice.

Customers in China Huawei is Ericsson’s toughest competitor in the network infrastructure market. “I belong to the category of people who believe that competition makes us a better company over the long term,” said Ekholm. “It may be painful in the short term, but in the long term it drives us to more innovations and better products for our customers.”

These customers also include the three largest Chinese network operators. One can expect that China will react to an exclusion of Huawei from European networks. Observers therefore assume that Ericsson also wants to protect business in China with the clear positioning of the CEO.

Huawei welcomed Ekholm’s clear positioning: “Huawei is firmly convinced that in the age of global supply chains only through standardization, certification and verification of all technologies used, each based on transparent criteria, the security level of our networks can be increased and that this requires a global effort and constructive cooperation of all actors involved. ”

The Chinese suppliers Huawei and ZTE are controversial, also because the US government is pushing for a waiver. Washington accuses the suppliers of maintaining close contacts with the Chinese military and the Chinese Communist Party. Other countries also perceive this as a security risk. Huawei always rejects the allegations. A possible exclusion is still controversially discussed in Germany.

(vbr)