Huawei Photo: CFP

 

"5G is not a creation of Huawei, nor is it a solo sung by Huawei," Chinese Ambassador to Sweden Gui Congyou said on Tuesday, adding that 5G has been brought to life via a cooperation between Huawei, Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia, and that forcing out any 5G company will make global 5G construction suffer, and that countries worldwide will pay the price.

Sweden previously banned Huawei and ZTE from 5G networks ahead of a spectrum auction in the 3.5-gigahertz band that is scheduled for November.

In a statement, the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) said it had decided on licensing conditions after addressing the assessments made by the Swedish Armed Forces and security services.

"If Huawei, the current leader of the 5G race, is kept out, undoubtedly 5G development as a whole will be obstructed, and the global 5G roll-out will be delayed. It will also put a heavier cost on countries worldwide, lower the quality of their 5G networks, and worst of all, make other countries less interested and driven to compete for 6G innovation," the ambassador said in an article posted in a local newspaper on Tuesday.

He pointed out that China's existing 3G and 4G networks were mostly built with technologies and equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and other western companies, and that it was the dynamics of both competition and cooperation among Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia and other multinational companies that nurtured the rapid growth of 5G.

Huawei worked hard to become a major player in 5G R&D and equipment manufacturing, he added, but it has no intention to exclude or squeeze out other multinational companies to monopolize 5G. 

Huawei says it's "shocked and disappointed" at Sweden's 5G ban, adding that Sweden's accusations of a security threat have no factual basis, and hopes the government of Sweden will reevaluate its decision.

"The decision to ban Huawei was simply based on conjecture and speculation rather than facts. It's unfair to Huawei and we cannot accept it," the Chinese tech firm said in a statement on October 21.

The ambassador also spoke about data security, saying that China welcomes creative suggestions from Sweden and other countries on improving and enriching its Global Initiative on Data Security, as a way to ensure the formation of data security regulations that are accepted and observed by all countries.

On October 16, the European Competitive Telecommunications Association said that it denounces any bans of Chinese 5G suppliers for geopolitical reasons, and emphasized that such decisions could only be justified on the basis of well-established facts.