Golden Power, Draghi cripples Huawei in 5G
Draghi has again used the golden power regarding the award of contracts for the 5G network, blocking the way for Huawei in the context of the agreements with Tim and not only with Tim
The Draghi government puts the stakes on Huawei with the golden power for Tim and Vodafone.
The Council of Ministers, which met on Wednesday 28 September 2022 under the chairmanship of President Mario Draghi, in fact approved the exercise of special powers, in the form of prescriptions, pursuant to article 1-bis of decree-law no. 21 of 2012, in relation to the approval of the 5G Annual Plan for the year 2022, presented by the company Tim and for that presented by Vodafone.
The so-called “Golden Power” attributes special powers to the authorities to protect strategic Italian companies. As Il Sole 24 Ore writes – which has reviewed the approved measures – the goal is to determine "a gradual exit from the scene of the Chinese supplier Huawei, in consideration of potential risks for cybersecurity".
The Chinese group is the world's largest supplier of telecommunications network equipment. But in recent years, the United States has put pressure on Italy and other European countries to avoid the use of Huawei equipment in their next-generation telecommunications networks and to limit the use of the plants of a second Chinese supplier (ZTE). arguing that the two companies pose a security risk. If Huawei and Zte firmly deny the allegations, Italy has nonetheless adopted a tougher stance towards Huawei.
All the details.
WHAT TIM'S ANNUAL PLAN PROVIDES
According to Il Sole 24 Ore, "Tim's annual plan foresees, for the Core part of the network, that is the" brain "of the infrastructure that connects the access parts, the use of 100% equipment from the Swedish company Ericsson, while the Italian Athonet is in the field for the implementation of dedicated private networks. As for the network access section (Ran radio access network), at present the supplier base sees Ericsson at 53%, the Finnish Nokia at 27% and Huawei at 20% ”.
DISMISSAL OF HUAWEI DEVICES INITIATED
In addition, the Confindustria newspaper recalls, the tlc group led by Pietro Labriola “has already started a process of decommissioning Huawei equipment that will see Ericsson at 70% and Nokia at 30% rise, it is assured in the annual plan. Hence the approval by the Palazzo Chigi working group on golden power, which considered the supplier diversification program in favor of EU and US operators to be satisfactory ”.
THE EQUIPMENT PROVIDED BY VODAFONE
The situation is different for Vodafone.
On May 20, 2021, the Council of Ministers had in fact authorized the supply in favor of Vodafone for the RAN network by Huawei. Even on that occasion, however, he had dictated a series of prescriptions. Huawei, for example, will not be able to intervene remotely to solve technical problems of the network.
Now, the new provision of the CDM provides – always reports Il Sole 24 Ore – “for the Core part of the network, at present Ericsson and the American Juniper are both at about 40% while Huawei and Nokia are at 10% each. In the government proceeding it should be noted that the company stated that the development of the infrastructure, beyond the horizon of the annual plan, foresees Juniper at 41%, Nokia at 45% and just under 15% that remains to be assigned to suppliers still to be identify and therefore to be included in the next annual plan ".
As for the Ran network, "Huawei and Nokia divide the number of devices practically in half (Center-South in the first case and North in the second)" underlines the Confindustria newspaper. But the provision establishes the condition that “the operator carries out a drastic rebalancing of the weight of non-EU suppliers to the advantage of European ones in the radio component of the network”. Furthermore, the government's diktat does not involve "only a detailed program of diversification of future contracts" highlights the newspaper, "but also the obligation to gradually replace the Chinese equipment already installed with those of EU companies once they reach the end of the cycle. of useful life, which according to the executive technicians cannot in any case exceed six years ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/golden-power-draghi-azzoppa-huawei-nel-5g/ on Tue, 04 Oct 2022 14:01:31 +0000.