Bloomberg: French cities are gradually removing Huawei equipment

Operators including French telecom giants Altice Europe NV and Bouygues Telecom have begun removing Huawei equipment from major French cities, as the French government moves to remove Huawei from network infrastructure in all but remote areas of France.

The work began in early 2021 when the French Constitutional Council signed a ruling forcing operators to remove Huawei equipment in densely populated metropolitan areas that are upgrading to 5G technology, Bloomberg reported on March 1, citing people familiar with the matter.

Unlike countries such as the UK, France is trying to walk a middle path to keep Huawei as a supplier in the country while excluding it from the core network. French President Emmanuel Macron has drawn up a new 5G development plan, forcing the country's operators using Huawei 5G kit to take greater risks.

Altice and Bouygues, the two major French operators, declined to comment, and Huawei did not immediately respond.

The head of France's cybersecurity agency said in July last year that wireless operators using Huawei products would be granted temporary 5G exemptions to allow sufficient buffer time to remove Huawei equipment.

To be able to deploy new mobile networks, Altice and Bouygues have now begun removing Huawei 4G equipment in a number of cities, including Toulouse, Toulon, Rennes and Brest, as Huawei equipment in the region is incompatible with 5G components installed by other suppliers.

Many operators complain that replacing Huawei equipment will add extra high costs, take years to complete the plan and undermine their competitiveness. Altice and Bouygues' two competitors are Orange SA and Iliad SA, the latter two currently use equipment from Ericsson and Nokia.

Bouygues said last year that Huawei equipment must be removed from 3,000 towers and replaced with Ericsson equipment by 2028, while Altice chose Nokia. Some of the replaced Huawei equipment can be moved to areas where the company has government exemptions, but some must be scrapped, the people added.

Huawei still has a significant presence in France. Last year, the company opened a 7,000-square-foot research center in an upscale Paris neighborhood and said in December that it would open its first production plant outside of China in the eastern French town of Brumath in 2023.