Safety|In several EU countries, the use of products from Chinese network equipment companies is clearly more restricted than in Finland.
Finnish plans to limit the use of products from high-risk network equipment companies in the fifth generation mobile phone networks, says news agency Bloomberg.
According to Bloomberg, the authorities’ purpose, in the name of national security, is to prevent telecom operators from using Chinese Huawei’s base stations and other technology in the core parts of the network.
“Our goal is to ensure safe communication networks in Finland,” said the Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Wrist (ps) Bloombergille.
European in 2020, the commission issued a recommendation under which several member states severely restricted the use of Huawei devices in the networks of telecom operators.
Nothing similar was done in Finland.
The Commission has subsequently defined Huawei and China’s ZTE as high-risk network equipment manufacturers.
The United States has long warned that Huawei’s equipment and software are suitable for espionage. The company has repeatedly denied the US claims.
There is no regulation in force in Finland under which certain network equipment manufacturers would have been defined as high-risk companies.
“The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency can, with a case-by-case investigation and consideration, oblige the owner or other holder of the communication network to remove the communication network device from critical parts of its network,” says the CEO of the Cyber Security Center Anssi Kärkkäinen.
According to Kärkkäinen, the assessment of the risk to national security and national defense in such a consideration is based on the views of the internal affairs, foreign affairs and defense administrations.
From Finns among telecom operators, Dna makes the most use of Huawei products. Huawei products are also in Elisa’s networks, but Telia does not use them according to its announcement.
According to the legislation in force, telecom operators are obliged to notify the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency of the suspicious activity of devices they detect in their network.
“We have not observed anything abnormal in the operation of Huawei products. If there are problems with any of the technology, the authority can already demand the removal of the network device from the network. If such a decision is made, then you have to think about whether the state is obliged to cover the costs caused by the removal,” says Dna’s CEO Jussi Tolvanen.
Dna’s competitor Elisa has challenged In Estonia, to the state court of the costs it incurs for replacing Huawei devices.
In Finland, Telia has supported stricter regulation.
“In all other countries where we operate, i.e. the Baltic and Nordic countries, the use of Chinese device manufacturers in critical parts of the mobile phone network is prohibited,” said the CEO of Telia Finland Heli Partanen in November 2024.
Network equipment companies Nokia and Ericsson have benefited from the fact that the use of Huawei and ZTE products has been significantly restricted in many European countries.