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| Photo: KPN |
Dutch telecoms giant KPN said on Friday it
intends to select a ‘western’ company to work on the critical core of its 5G
rollout.
Earlier reports that KPN was poised to give the 5G contract to China’s
Huawei led to a wave of criticism from MPs and the US ambassador to the
Netherlands, who said it is ‘very important’ to keep the Chinese firm out.
KPN
said in a statement that it ‘takes into account the evolving assessment of the
protection of vital infrastructure and the influence this may have on future
Dutch policy’
In this context, the company said, it had decided to further
tighten its security policy for its fixed and mobile network suppliers. KPN
plans ‘to select a Western vendor for the construction of the new mobile core
network for 5G’, the company said.
KPN has, however, signed a preliminary
agreements to start preparations on modernising the mobile radio and antenna
network with Huawei. ‘This preliminary agreement can be adjusted or reversed to
align it with future Dutch government policy,’ the company said.
Earlier this
month, the AIVD security service warned about the risks of using Chinese
equipment for crucial infrastructure and said digital attacks and espionage by
countries such as China, Iran and Russia pose a real threat.
Strategy
The Dutch
government is currently trying to develop a strategy to deal with Chinese
economic interests in the Netherlands and is due to publish its approach next
month.
Chief executive Jan Kees de Jager told a press conference on Friday that
the move is in line with the British government’s decision to exclude Huawei
from the core 5G network, and restrict its involvement to peripheral services.
‘We are not blind to the political discussion about the security of our
networks and we do see various potential suppliers for the 5G network in the
Europe and US,’ he is quoted as saying by the Financieele Dagblad.
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