Spain and Portugal resist US pressure over Huawei

Portugal is the latest western country to say it won’t ban Huawei from its 5G network, while Telefónica Spain is using Huawei for its 5G core.

AP reports that Portugal formally notified the US it won’t be excluding any Chinese vendors from participation in its 5G network. The report goes on to note that Portugal already has a fair bit of Chinese infrastructure investment and may be wary of putting that sort of thing in jeopardy. If so, that’s further evidence that the whole 5G security thing is a proxy for the broader geopolitical tussle between the US and China and that China may be threatening further consequences for countries that pick team US.

Meanwhile Telefónica has revealed it will be using Huawei in its Spanish 5G core, indicating there’s no ban from the Spanish government either. Expansión got the scoop and Reuters got confirmation from Telefónica. Both reports note that Telefónica is moving to a multi-vendor strategy having been all-in with Huawei, so that would appear to mark some kind of concession to security concerns.

US President Trump has been in the UK for a NATO summit and has inevitably been whispering in the ears of allied leaders about the perils of Chinese involvement in 5G networks. While the UK is still agonising over the matter, general European sentiment seems to be warming to Huawei, which could lead to diplomatic repercussions down the line. It seems the lack of hard evidence of the security threat Huawei is accused of posing is seriously undermining the US position.