Following the example of other European countries, Portugal has decided to close the doors of its fifth generation (5G) telephone network to businesses in the countries and jurisdictions “high risk”. The government issued a statement indicating that the country would no longer use equipment from non-member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD).
Portuguese authorities believe that companies outside these specific jurisdictions pose a significant risk to the security of national networks, which effectively excludes Chinese suppliers, including Huawei, which had previously collaborated with some Portuguese telecommunications companies to develop their 5G networks. . With this decision, Portugal aligns itself with France or the United Kingdom, themselves aligned with the position of the United States, where Donald Trump had waged a long-term battle against the Chinese company.
Since March 2023, Germany has also been planning to do without Chinese firms in 5G networks, which risks leading operators to launch major replacement campaigns for the components concerned. In France, a so-called “anti-Huawei” law was adopted in the summer of 2019, subjecting each new 5G installation to an authorization granted or not by the National Information Systems Security Agency (Anssi). If it does not specifically target Huawei, this law concretely blocks Chinese suppliers.