Swedish digital minister sees no problem in Huawei used in 5G: report

BRUSSELS -- Anders Ygeman, the Swedish Minister for Energy and Digital Development, saw no problem with equipment from Chinese tech giant Huawei being used in 5G deployment, according to a report by TT News Agency.

He also reportedly said on Monday that the Nordic country's legislation is not aimed at a particular company or country.

Tele2, a major Swedish telecommunication operator, launched its 5G service on Sunday with a mix of telecommunication equipment including those from Huawei. Telia, another major operator, launched its 5G service on Monday without Huawei equipment.

TT, the national wire service in Sweden, reported that Ygeman was attending Telia's 5G launching event and "sees no problem about Tele2 using Huawei when Swedish customers surf on 5G."

Ygeman was quoted as saying: "You have probably already used Huawei if you are now surfing on 4G. There has been quite a lot of equipment from the company. Then the question is how the operators choose to use different components in different parts of the network, depending on the security priority level of the specific part of the network. That question should be directed to the operator, because the suppliers are not who the legislation is aimed at."

Ygeman was referring to a new Swedish legislation this year, which strengthened security requirements for telecommunication operators.

"Swedish legislation is not aimed at a particular company or country. There will be a lot of different components in the structure of the 5G network just like in the structure of the 4G network, including all the major world suppliers. Then the operators must be able to show that they are safe and reliable," Ygeman said in the report.

Huawei, Sweden's domestic supplier Ericsson and Finland's Nokia, are the world's three leading suppliers of 5G equipment for telecommunication operators.