LISBON, Could 26 (Reuters) – Portugal’s cybersecurity council CSSC has issued a resolution that could formally bar telecom operators from employing Chinese gear in their higher-speed 5G mobile networks as properly 4G platforms on which the new technologies is primarily based.

The CSSC is the prime minister’s consultative physique and its document, dated Could 23, is one more blow to efforts by Chinese technologies giant Huawei (HWT.UL) to enter the 5G market place in Portugal and possibly extend current contracts.

Below a law authorized final August, the government can ascertain “the exclusion, restrictions on use, or the cessation of use of gear or solutions” of telecom providers, setting circumstances and deadlines for operators to comply.

The government had no instant comment.

The country’s major operators, Altice, NOS (NOS.LS) and Vodafone (VOD.L) have currently mentioned they will not use Huawei’s gear in 5G core networks, amid European and U.S. issues that Chinese involvement in crucial infrastructure could compromise safety. Beijing and Huawei reject such ideas.

Portugal’s current 5G networks are not standalone and nonetheless largely primarily based on 4G technologies and gear.

With no mentioning China or any Chinese suppliers by name, the CSSC warned of a “higher threat” to safety from suppliers or providers that “are headquartered in a nation exactly where the government workouts manage, interference or stress on its activities in third nations”.

Its opinion is primarily based on an undisclosed report that evaluated the security of gear in public electronic communications networks involving 5G technologies.

It also cited safety dangers when the nation exactly where a supplier is primarily based has no agreements on information protection, cybersecurity or protection of intellectual home with Portugal or the European Union, or when it is not an EU, NATO or OECD member.

Huawei mentioned in a statement it had “no prior information of, and hasn’t been consulted about this matter” and it was nonetheless gathering information and facts “on the nature of the assessment” and hoped to continue serving Portuguese customers.

Europe has emerged as a battleground in the technologies rivalry among Beijing and Washington and Huawei’s European competitors, Ericsson (ERICb.ST) and Nokia (NOKIA.HE), could turn out to be a supplier duopoly if the Chinese enterprise had been shut out.

Reporting by Sergio Goncalves
Editing by Andrei Khalip and Mark Potter

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