It’s a rare day when Huawei isn’t in the news, as recent events – or possibly non-events – in Poland and Brazil make clear.
In Poland, despite speculation that the Chinese telecommunications equipment giant could be excluded from contracts on cyber-security grounds due to its links with the Chinese government, Marek Zagorski, Poland’s Minister of Digitisation, has confirmed that this will not be the case. He has stated, in fact, that no supplier will be excluded from providing equipment for the country’s 5G network rollouts.
On the other hand, he did reaffirm the Polish government’s intention to enforce security standards and made it clear that operators bidding for 5G spectrum will have to ensure that their chosen equipment partners are trusted suppliers who meet relevant security criteria.
Another news item – again based on rebutting speculation involving Huawei, but not, for once, involving 5G – comes from Brazil. It relates to Brazilian telecommunications firm Oi SA, which, as regular readers will be aware, is said to be in talks with Spain’s Telefonica and Italy’s Telecom Italia to sell its mobile network.
It appears that some commentators have been expecting a joint bid for Oi’s mobile unit from Huawei alongside China Mobile. However, in a response to a report from Brazilian daily O Globo, Huawei has put out a statement making it clear that it has ‘no plans or interest in acquiring Oi’ or any other Brazilian operator.
Whether that’s good news for Oi isn’t clear. The troubled firm will no doubt be hoping that it gets more interest from other players (China Mobile may still be in the frame), as it aims to raise around $2.4 billion from the sale of its mobile unit, which may help it to avoid insolvency.
