France’s 5G bill makes it tough, but not impossible, for Huawei

Bloomberg

If France is trying to keep Huawei Technologies Co out of its next-generation telecommunications networks, it’s doing it a lot more subtly than the US.
The country’s parliament was expected to start to debate on Wednesday a bill aimed at tightening security around its 5G networks after an earlier version was rejected in February by senators for the government’s failure to fully consult them.
The bill doesn’t name Huawei, but instead provides a framework for protecting networks by subjecting equipment to tests that may be tantamount to suppliers handing over industrial secrets to be eligible to bid for contracts.
“We don’t target any gear maker; we target equipment,” said Thomas Gassilloud, a lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s party, Republic on The Move, who sits on the defense committee. He noted, however, that the bill will reflect France’s attempts to ensure the new networks are secure and its push for more reciprocal access to the Chinese market.
“We are not naive, and the bill will leave room for the prime minister’s national security agency to make the wisest choices taking into account both the network’s security and our place in global competition,” he said.
The bill shows that France isn’t succumbing to pressure from the US for an outright ban of Huawei. President Donald Trump’s administration has been seeking to persuade countries across the world to exclude Huawei from 5G networks, pointing to China’s National Intelligence Law that requires all its organisations and citizens to assist authorities with access to information, which according to the US makes the company a tool for espionage.
France — a large number of whose companies do business in China — has gone to great lengths to not be seen as targeting Huawei. During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to France late last month, Macron and his advisers avoided any public discussion of Huawei or cybersecurity.
“We give ourselves the means to be sovereign, like China has always done, with no discrimination on foreign investments, which are welcome in France like in Europe,” he said.
The comments were the latest demonstration of Europe de-escalating what’s been a tense few months of US-led anti-China tech sentiment, centering on Huawei.
The new French bill will require Huawei and other gear makers to divulge a lot more information on their equipment than in the past.
In addition to the safeguards in place for critical parts of the country’s telecoms networks, the bill envisages a vetting procedure that broadens the list of components that must be fully reviewed by government cyber experts. The core of networks and towers are already on that list, but now electronic components and software in the towers and equipment linked to the heart of the network will also be scrutinised, according to a copy of the bill.
“With 4G, Huawei could afford not to be in the protected heart of networks and still do business, but with 5G a much greater share of the equipment will require national security oversight,” Gassilloud said.
Ericsson, Nokia, Cisco Systems and Huawei are all competing to build Europe’s future network.
In spite of US pressure, nations accounting for more than 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product are either embracing Huawei or appear unlikely to restrict the Chinese vendor — the world’s biggest telecoms gear maker.
Telecom operators are anxiously awaiting the bill as they race towards their 2020 target for rolling out 5G networks.