Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read has called on the US to share any evidence it has about Huawei with authorities in Europe so they can adopt a common position about whether to deploy technology from the Chinese company in their networks, reports Reuters.
Speaking to reporters at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Read called for a 'fact-based risk-assessed review' of the security risk of using Huawei technology. With Huawei the largest mobile network equipment supplier in the world, ahead of Ericsson and Nokia, Read warned that reducing the number of network suppliers to two would threaten the industry and economic growth.
Although Vodafone has paused deployment of Huawei equipment in its core European networks, Read said that it was not simply a case of barring the company from future 5G networks as its equipment was already deployed in 4G networks in Europe that would be the foundation of 5G technology. He also warned that a major network equipment swap programme would be highly disruptive to national infrastructure and consumers, as well as 'very, very expensive'. He said this would delay the launch of 5G in Europe by two years, and would put Europe at a structural disadvantage.
