Vodafone has stopped installing Huawei equipment into its core networks in Europe until western governments resolve security concerns with the vendor.
Huawei has been under intense scrutiny over its ties with the Chinese government and accusations that its technology could be used for espionage.
Vodafone chief executive Nick Read said: “We have decided to pause further Huawei in our core whilst we engage with the various agencies and governments and Huawei just to finalise the situation, of which I feel Huawei is really open and working hard.”
A Huawei spokesperson said: “Vodafone and Huawei are long-term strategic partners that have worked together since 2007. Huawei is focused on supporting Vodafone’s 5G network rollouts, of which the core is a small proportion. We are grateful to Vodafone for its support of Huawei and we will endeavour to live up to the trust placed in us.”
Work will cease on installing Huawei equipment into European core networks that are data centres and software utilised to connect people and to the internet. Core networks hold more security sensitive software.
Last year BT announced it would remove Huawei parts from its 4G network, which BT stated was due to a continuation of a policy in place since 2015.
Huawei holds 35 per cent of infrastructure marketshare rivalling Ericsson and Nokia. Recently it announced a 5G foldable phone will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress next month.