Portugal's telcos snub Huawei as 5G partner

Portugal's top three mobile phone companies NOS, Vodafone, and Altice announced they would not use Huawei technology in their 5G networks' core systems despite a lack of government prohibition to do so.

The three telcos serve nearly all of Portugal's mobile customers.

The said 5G core technology covers servers, routers, and gateways that forward traffic to the antennas that incorporate sophisticated software that processes sensitive information like personal data.

While using Huawei or not for next-generation mobile networks is a major issue in Europe due to intense diplomatic pressure from the US, the Portuguese government has not taken a stance.

The European Commission urges EU members to diversify their 5G suppliers, which would shrink Huawei's presence in Europe.

The other suppliers are Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson.

Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos revealed that the Portuguese government created a panel to assess 5G risks and cybersecurity issues and did not saw findings against any particular supplier.

Altice Portugal CEO Alexandre Fonseca said they hadn't included Huawei in its core mobile telecoms networks.

A NOS spokeswoman said they choose the "best partners" and "will not have Huawei equipment" in its 5G core network.

On the other hand, a Vodafone Portugal spokeswoman noted that their parent group would not use Huawei in its core 5G network, and Vodafone Portugal is no exception.

Vodafone Portugal has chosen Ericsson as its 5G network partner.
However, their stances potentially do not exclude Huawei in non-core parts of the 5G rollout.