“We don’t have Huawei at the core” of the networks, says Nos

Nos reveals that Huawei’s technology is not present in the core of its telecommunications network: “We don’t have Huawei in the core [of the network],” the chief financial officer said in a conference call with analysts.

The revelation comes two weeks after Brussels recommended Member States to keep so-called “high-risk manufacturers” away from their core networks. Although the European Commission has not mentioned names, the Chinese Huawei, accused of being a vehicle and spying on China, has been at the top of the agenda.

Urged to clarify the situation of the company considering these recommendations, José Pedro Pereira da Costa assured Nos uses technology from Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei on its networks. Then, asked if the core of his network is composed of technology from these three manufacturers, the manager denied: “We don’t have Huawei in the core,” he assured.

It was not clear, however, whether it referred to the current 4G networks or the 5G network that has already developed in some places in the country, particularly in Matosinhos. But it is public knowledge that Altice Portugal and NOS have been using Huawei for their fifth generation networks.

At the same conference, the CEO also told analysts that the company is confident that Portugal “will obey the recommendations of the European Union.” “The general feeling is that there won’t be any major problems in this particular market,” he signalled.