The committees for information technology, defense, public order, and national and legal security, discipline and immunities of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies issued a positive opinion on the 5G bill in the form submitted by the Government, in a joint session on Wednesday, May 12.

All amendments, including some tabled only few hours before the meeting, were rejected. The meeting was attended (as guests) by representatives of the telecom operators (Orange, Vodafone) but also of the Chinese company Huawei (Vlad Doicaru and Gabriela Minescu).

"The law will go to the Senate. I think it will be adopted in a few weeks," said Sabin Sarmas, the president of the IT Committee from the Chamber of Deputies, after the end of the meeting, quoted by Ziarul Financiar.

The bill is fiercely criticized by Huawei, which based its reasoning on the fact that the Romanian authorities would not license it as a supplier of equipment and software.

The 5G bill provides guidelines for ensuring the security of the future 5G networks by accepting only certified suppliers of elements (hardware, software).

The certification is decided case by case, and a key criterion is that the provider "is not under the control of a foreign government, in the absence of an independent legal system."

Under one of the latest projections carried for Huawei, Dentons law firm estimates that "the cost of eliminating Huawei" (for the Romanian telecom operators) would be some EUR 3-4 bln, while this would cost Huawei EIR 2.7 bln in lost revenues over a period of ten years, according to Ziarul Financiar.

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andrei@romania-insider.com