Huawei responds to Sweden's ban on its participation in 5G construction

 A Huawei spokesman expressed "surprise and disappointment" at the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority's ban on its equipment from 5G networks, according to a statement obtained by Russia's Sputnik news agency.

A Huawei spokesperson said that Huawei is a company "100% owned by its employees" and that the Swedish government's accusation that Huawei poses a security threat is not supported by "factual basis". The statement pointed out that the Swedish government's exclusion of Huawei is "entirely based on unfounded assumptions" and "unfair and unacceptable."

The statement read, “Huawei has never and will never pose even the slightest threat to Sweden’s network security. Excluding Huawei will not make Sweden’s 5G network more secure. On the contrary, competition and innovation will be seriously hindered.”

A Huawei spokesman added that the company will "carefully evaluate" the impact of the Swedish Telecom Authority's decision and hopes that the Swedish government will reassess the decision "in the spirit of fairness and open markets."

It is understood that Huawei established a research and development center in Sweden in 2001, the same as Ericsson in the Kista Science Park in the northern suburbs of Stockholm, and established a sales company two years later. In October 2009, Huawei established its second research and development center in Sweden in Gothenburg. At that time, it had a total of 200 employees in Sweden.

In December 2009, Huawei defeated Ericsson and won the exclusive supply contract for the largest LTE network in Northern Europe from Net4Mobility (a joint venture between Sweden's second largest operator Telenor and the third largest operator Tele2).

According to a June 2020 report by South Korean media, Swedish telecom operators have also expressed interest in Huawei's 5G communications equipment and have begun providing services to major cities such as Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

Anders Eagleman, Sweden's Minister of Energy and Digital Development, said, "We have used Huawei equipment since the 4G era and have not found any security issues."