- Nokia’s mobile networks chief, Tommi Uitto, says China is set to ban western vendors from its telecom equipment sector due to national security concerns
- Uitto wants the European Commission to get tougher with countries that haven’t yet banned Huawei and ZTE so Nokia can replace them
Tommi Uitto, president of Nokia’s mobile networks division, has told Finnish newspaper Talouselämä that Chinese authorities are threatening to ban “western suppliers” – Nokia and Ericsson – from China’s mobile network infrastructure sector because of “national security” concerns.
Uitto told Talouselämä: “We have been told verbally by high-ranking officials, when we have asked whether it is true that western manufacturers are being excluded from your market in the name of national security, the answer was yes. That is a pretty drastic statement.”
While all of this is currently hearsay – no official announcements or documentation related to any such trade restrictions exist – any such move would mirror the treatment of Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE in multiple markets, especially the US but also in some parts of Europe too.
