08 September 2021
A1 Telekom Austria, a unit of Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim’s América Móvil, is open to considering Chinese vendors such as Huawei and ZTE for upcoming 5G networks in several countries, a senior official said.
The news comes as European governments continue to tighten controls on Chinese companies building 5G networks following diplomatic pressure from the US.
Washington has accused Huawei of facilitating Chinese spying - a claim the company and Beijing deny.
“For us it is very important to have markets where we have Chinese vendors to test the performance of the different networks in real time,” A1 Telekom Austria’s chief operating officer Alejandro Plater told Reuters.
Not only is Chinese technology cheaper, but it offers features that are better than their European counterpart, making it competitive, he added.
Last year, A1 América Móvil called Huawei an excellent telecoms equipment provider.
Telekom Austria has 25 million customers across Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Belarus, Slovenia, Republic of Serbia and the Republic of North Macedonia.
It already uses radio access networks from Chinese vendors in Bulgaria and North Macedonia for 4G networks, as well as equipment from European vendors like Ericsson and Nokia in countries such as Austria.
A Swedish court recently upheld a ban against Huawei selling 5G equipment in the country.