Huawei hoped for a green light ... But the signal is rather orange. The Chinese telecoms equipment supplier will not be "completely banned" from the French 5G market. However, French operators using it will receive operating authorizations limited to eight years, according to the National Information System Security Agency (Anssi), which compromises the Chinese group's access to the hexagonal 5G market.
"What I can say is that there will not be a total ban. Operators who do not use Huawei, we encourage them not to go because it is a bit the natural sense of things. Those who already use it, we issue authorizations whose duration varies between three and eight years ”, declared in an interview with Les Echos Guillaume Poupard, director general of Anssi, charged by the government with investigating this dossier.
"The decisions are ready," said Guillaume Poupard, confirming information from AFP on Tuesday that these decisions are just waiting to be signed by the executive.
"There will be refusals" for Huawei
Only three telecom equipment manufacturers, the Europeans Nokia and Ericsson and the Chinese Huawei, are able to supply the equipment for 5G networks, the future mobile telecommunications system.
"There will be refusals," said Guillaume Poupard to Les Echos, however excluding that these refusals concern Nokia and Ericsson, and thus indicating in hollow that only Huawei is concerned.
“What we are doing on 5G in France is a compromise. We must develop 5G in economic conditions acceptable to telecoms operators and also sovereign, which allow us not to be dependent on this or that equipment or country, "said the director of Anssi.
"Many of the antennas installed are compatible with 5G", he notably reacted to the dissuasive nature of these restrictions, taking into account the amount to be invested for operators.
"Risk management"
"We are not in Huawei bashing, nor in anti-Chinese racism," said Guillaume Poupard again.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
“We are in risk management. Not all telecom equipment manufacturers are created equal. I am not quoting a name but it is clear that we are not in the same risks when we speak of Chinese or American equipment. We are cautious with non-European equipment manufacturers, obviously, just as we would also be, for example, if all operators used the same equipment manufacturer, even if he was French, it would be catastrophic ”, a- he added.
“This is the whole point of the discussion with telecom operators on the choice of their equipment manufacturers. It is not a process of intention that one makes to such company or such country. The question is just that of sovereignty, "concluded Guillaume Poupard.
Anyway, the issue is particularly important in France for operators SFR (Altice) and Bouygues Telecom who already use Huawei antennas in their 4G networks and want to rely on it to deploy 5G.
While Arcep, the telecoms regulator, has set auctions for the allocation of new frequencies in September and the first commercial offers could be available in France before the end of the year, the two operators are worried about having to change equipment manufacturers, or even dismantle their old equipment in the event of incompatibility. They warned that they will ask for compensation if the state blocks the way for the Chinese group.
Another unknown weighs on the deployment of this new technology: on June 21, the Minister for the ecological transition Elisabeth Borne announced that she had asked the Prime Minister to wait for the evaluation of the health effects of 5G by ANSES - hoped for the end of the first quarter 2021 - before deploying it.
The Council of State, seized by associations worried about the potential harmful effects of 5G on health and the environment, must decide soon.
