Bouygues Telecom Deputy Director General Olivier Roussat told a press conference over the telephone that this measure will have a limited financial impact and is motivated by restrictions imposed by the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) of France on Huawei on July regarding future 5G networks.
According to Roussat, the ANSSI has established a progressive prohibition for those antennas made by the Chinese manufacturer, starting in Brest, Toulouse, Strasburg and Rennes, where they cannot be installed, while in four other cities they will have to be dismantled by 2023, nine cities have permits until 2025, and the rest of the cities will use that technology until 2028.
This means the elimination of 3,000 repeaters of 5G technology in the next eight years, so Bouygues is negotiating with the French State and is implementing the legal restrictions to get a compensation for the economic damage resulting from that ban.
The ANSII’s decision has no technical reasons, but it is motivated by the trade war between the US Government and China, because while Washington demands that its allies eliminate Huawei for security reasons, the Chinese company considers those accusations groundless.
jg/jf/acme
