Tim ruled out Huawei from the tender for 5G equipment for the networks it will build in Italy and Brazil. The Chinese giant was not invited as a possible supplier, while other international companies such as Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia and Mavenir and Affirmed Networks, a company recently acquired by Microsoft. No comment has come, for now, from the top management of Huawei in Italy and Brazil.
In recent days an indiscretion had circulated according to which Italy would be considering excluding the Chinese giant from the construction of new generation networks. The motivation would not be economic, but intelligence: the fear is that China, through 5G, could spy on the main telecommunications networks of the Western world, which would have serious repercussions in terms of security.
Sources close to Tim specify however that the company's choice not to invite the Chinese group to the tender is not linked to political reasons, but strictly industrial ones, with a view to diversifying suppliers. Indeed, Huawei is already a partner of Tim in other sectors such as the access network.
The replica of the Chinese giant has been entrusted to an article: "We are firmly convinced that the security and development of digital Italy must be supported by an approach based on facts and not on unfounded inferences - we read - We are a private company, present in Italy for 16 years and in Europe for 20 and we are part of the global value chain; we have contributed to the development of 3G, 4G and now 5G and lead some of the global standardization committees. We are committed to contributing to the country's digital development, even in this difficult phase, with technologies, employment, resources, both directly and indirectly, through the supply chain of our partners. Security, transparency and compliance with the rules are the fundamental elements that have guaranteed us the trust of telecommunications operators, businesses and consumers".
Friday, mid-morning, Tim's share on the Stock Exchange gains around 1%, to 0,3455 euro, slightly outperforming the Ftse Mib, which gained 0,7% in the same minutes.
This week Huawei also took a big hit by the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
