Huawei ousted from heart of EU as Nokia wins Belgian 5G contracts 6park.com

By Supantha Mukherjee, Mathieu Rosemain 6park.com
4 MIN READ 6park.com
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STOCKHOLM/PARIS (Reuters) - Orange and Proximus have picked Nokia to help build 5G networks in Belgium as they drop Huawei amid U.S. pressure to exclude the Chinese firm from supplying key telecoms equipment.

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The EU flag and a smartphone with the Huawei and 5G network logo are seen on a PC motherboard in this illustration taken January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The moves are among the first by commercial operators in Europe to drop Huawei from next-generation networks and come after months of diplomatic pressure from Washington, which alleges Huawei equipment could be used by Beijing for spying.
The Belgian capital Brussels is home to the NATO alliance and the European Union’s executive and parliament, making it a matter of particular concern for U.S. intelligence agencies.
“Belgium has been 100% reliant on Chinese vendors for its radio networks - and people working at NATO and the EU were making mobile phone calls on these networks,” said John Strand, an independent Danish telecoms consultant.
“The operators are sending a signal that it’s important to have access to safe networks.”
The United States welcomed the decisions by Orange Belgium and Proximus, which have a network sharing agreement.
“This is the latest example of evaporating Huawei deals and further confirmation of this worldwide momentum towards trusted vendors,” said Keith Krach, the U.S. undersecretary at the State Department for economic growth, energy and the environment.
Huawei [HWT.UL], the world’s biggest telecoms equipment supplier, strongly denies the U.S. allegations and has been highly critical of calls to ban it from 5G contracts. 6park.com