The Los Angeles Post

COMME CI COMME ÇA ON HUAWEI

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The French government will encourage telecommunications companies to avoid using equipment from Chinese telecom group Huawei, but will not ban the use of the equipment altogether, French newspaper Les Echos reported this week.

Guillaume Poupard, the head of French cybersecurity agency ANSSI, told the newspaper that the government planned to advise French companies to avoid using Huawei equipment in the rollout of 5G networks, but would not place a complete ban on Huawei.

“What I can say is that there won’t be a total ban,” Guillaume Poupard told Les Echos according to a Reuters report. “For operators that are not currently using Huawei, we are inciting them not to go for it.”

Poupard noted that for French companies already using Huawei products, the government would issue authorizations to allow these companies to use Huawei products for a further three to eight years.

The reported upcoming French decision comes on the heels of the United Kingdom reportedly backtracking on its policies towards the company and considering speeding up the process of removing all Huawei equipment from its networks after recent moves by the Trump administration limited the company’s ability to do business.

The Telegraph cited a leaked report from the UK intelligence agency GCHQ in reporting Sunday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being pressured by officials to phase out all Huawei equipment from British networks by 2029. According to The Telegraph, members of Johnson’s party plan to urge him to move that deadline up to 2024, the end of the current Parliament.

The British concerns mostly cite recent moves by the Commerce Department to limit Huawei’s ability to do business in the U.S. and with U.S. allies, with British officials noting that these limits could force Huawei to use vulnerable equipment in British 5G networks.

Concerns around Huawei largely stem from a 2017 Chinese intelligence law that requires Chinese companies and citizens to disclose sensitive information to the government if requested. U.S. prosecutors have also brought charges against the company for intellectual property theft, wire fraud, and obstruction of justice, among others.