- The CEO of Huawei rival Ericsson has criticized a Swedish ban on Huawei.
- Borje Ekholm reportedly claimed the ban restricted free competition.
- He added that the ban would delay the adoption of 5G.
Huawei has been subject to US sanctions for well over a year, affecting the cellular business and network infrastructure businesses. Washington has also put pressure on allied countries to ban the use of Huawei’s infrastructure for 5G networks.
Now one of Huawei’s main infrastructure competitors has spoken out against a recent ban in Sweden. Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm said the Financial Times that the ban in Ericsson’s home country will limit free competition and result in a delay for 5G.
“I belong to the category that believes that competition will make us a better company over the long term. In the short term it may be painful, but in the long term it drives us to be more innovative and make better products for our customers, ”Ekholm was quoted as saying, noting that it competed“ strongly ”with Huawei but also collaborated on network standards.
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Ericsson’s CEO also suggested that Europe could fall behind again if it didn’t deliver a quick 5G rollout.
“Think of 4G – the debate in Europe was: What is the killer app? The Americans and Chinese were the fastest to adopt 4G, and the consumer app economy is now dominated by American and Chinese companies, ”Ekholm said. “5G will be the same, but for businesses. The slowdown in the adoption of 5G is a risk to the economy. Europe is in danger of falling behind again. “
The comments come a few weeks after Sweden banned the use of Huawei’s infrastructure for 5G networks, citing “extensive intelligence gathering and technology theft”.
Ekholm noted that mobile networks are increasingly and understandably subject to national security screening. However, he claimed that Sweden had deviated from EU policy on 5G networks, which called for a balance between security and competition.