Huawei “still confident” it will not be excluded from Romania’s 5G auction

Chinese group Huawei is still confident that the Romanian authorities won’t ban it from participating in the 5G deployment program.

“I am still very confident that Romania will not ban our equipment [because] if we are excluded, Romania's economy will decline,” Huawei Romania CEO George Zhang said in a conference about the implementation of the newest technologies in the telecom industry, local Economica.net reported.

“Many foreign investors count on the outstanding availability of cheap broadband internet connections when deciding to invest in Romania,” he added, implying that any slowdown in this regard would hit the country’s economy by making it less attractive to investors.

Romania is one of the most important markets for Huawei, which has invested nearly EUR 1 billion over the 17 years of activity in Romania, where it hires 2,100 out of which 1,700 Romanians, the Chinese group’s official explained. Another 5,000 are hired by suppliers, he added.

Speaking about a potential decision by the Romanian Government to ban Huawei technologies, in line with the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the United States, Zhang said that “we have not seen any decision yet,” but stressed that the “ban” should come under the form of certain evaluation procedures.

“Technical issues should be discussed by technical experts,” the Huawei official said, adding that the “right procedure” is that followed by the UK and Germany, both of which have such risk assessments with less standardization, fewer certifications, through a very clear procedure and they make an equal assessment for everyone.

Unlike the US, Germany has already allowed Huawei technologies in its 5G networks, a move likely to be taken by the UK as well.

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