Hungary has no evidence of Huawei threat, plans rapid 5G rollout -minister
20/06/2019 18:00
* 5G auction could raise about 70 bln forints - minister
* Says Hungary taking pragmatic approach on Huawei
* Adds so far only accusations, no evidence
* If evidence emerges, Hungary will honour int'l commitments
By Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST, June 20 (Reuters) - Hungary has no evidence that
equipment from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei HWT.UL poses a
security threat, a government minister said on Thursday, adding
that Budapest was mulling incentives to accelerate the rollout
of a high-speed 5G network.
The United States and some of its Western allies believe
Huawei Technologies' equipment could be used for espionage, and
see its expansion into central Europe as a way to gain a
foothold in the European market. Huawei denies the accusations.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N20659C
Washington is concerned in particular about the expansion of
Huawei, the world's biggest maker of telecoms equipment, in
Hungary and Poland.
Budapest has so far shrugged off the security concerns and
on Thursday Innovation and Technology Minister Laszlo Palkovics
told Reuters that Hungary had yet to receive any evidence beyond
what he called accusations levelled at Huawei.
"We have taken a rather pragmatic stance, the same, in fact,
as Germany," Palkovics said. "It has not been proven that
Huawei's technology would pose any risk to Hungary, as we have
seen no (data) to support that."
"Until it is proven that Huawei, or Cisco or any other
technology poses any threat to our community, that is Hungary,
NATO or the European Union, we will handle Huawei's technology
as any other technology," he added.
Palkovics' comments follow the Hungarian telecoms regulator
NMHH's publication this week of the draft documentation for the
sale of more than 400 megahertz of 5G spectrum later this year.
This fires the starting gun on the rollout of a high-speed
wireless network expected to serve self-driving cars and
real-time communication between machines. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS0N1SA01S
He said the country expected the auction to raise about 70
billion forints ($244.67 million).
Huawei employs around 2,000 people in Hungary, where it has
invested $1.2 billion since 2005 according to company figures.
Its European Supply Centre near Budapest, launched in 2009, is
Huawei's biggest production base outside China, the group says.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has strengthened
business ties with Beijing over the past years.
FAST ROLLOUT
Acknowledging that Hungary's technological acumen lagged
that of its U.S. and German allies, Palkovics said Budapest was
studying the example of Germany where he said an assessment
system was developed to precisely identify possible security
threats. Germany is Hungary's biggest foreign investor.
"I am positive, that if it were to become obvious that
(there is a security risk), Hungary is a member of NATO, which
entails a spate of commitments, which we will follow, but so
far, there has been no information to support that," he said.
Deutsche Telekom DTEGn.DE unit Magyar Telekom MTEL.BU
has installed Huawei and Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O equipment at
a 5G test base in western Hungary.
Asked whether Huawei could participate without restrictions
in the rollout of Hungary's 5G network, Palkovics said:
"Once other, technologically more advanced countries launch
the rollout that way, we will follow suit. If they do not, we
will not either."
Palkovics said the government was planning talks with
telecoms companies and other players in the sector on ways to
facilitate a faster rollout of 5G.
The minister said he had met representatives of Germany's
Siemens SIEGn.DE and car maker BMW BMWG.DE , which plans to
build a 1 billion euro factory in eastern Hungary, for talks on
possible uses of 5G technology. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1UR2UH
"In Germany, Siemens and BMW have proposed that there should
be an available spectrum for in-house applications. These
companies are also present in Hungary and they have proposed the
same," he said, adding that these frequencies would be allotted
in a second stage of the Hungarian 5G tender.
($1 = 286.1 forints)
(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; editing by Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)
((gergely.szakacs@reuters.com ; https://twitter.com/szakacsg ;
+36 1 882 3606 ;
https://www.reuters.com/journalists/gergely-szakacs))