Austrian operators warn of costs, long timelines as certain EU countries move to ban Chinese equipment - 新华网

VIENNA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Two of Austria's three major mobile operators have warned of high costs, long replacement timelines and inconsistent security requirements for a blanket exclusion of network equipment from Chinese companies.

The European Union (EU) this year is seeking to restrict equipment from Chinese companies under its proposed revision of the Cybersecurity Act, raising concerns among industry players in member countries.

"We do not consider a blanket exclusion of individual manufacturers solely on the basis of their origin to be expedient," Anja Tretbar-Bustorf, chief corporate affairs officer at Magenta Telekom, said in a statement to Xinhua. "The required level of protection for Europe's critical infrastructure should be ensured through clear security requirements, effective controls and objective certification."

She noted that Austria's telecom regulator RTR has approved the use of the components concerned in Magenta's network.

"A replacement would be technically complex and would take many years," she said, citing an estimate by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) that the cost for European network operators could reach up to 40 billion euros (44 billion U.S. dollars).

In the case of a mandatory switch, "realistic transition periods and economically viable framework conditions" would be needed, she added.

According to a report by Austrian broadcaster ORF, components from Chinese companies are being used in Austrian mobile networks.

Drei Austria, which is currently introducing a new core network with Swedish partner Ericsson, said that it supports the EU's goal of raising cybersecurity standards, but that Austria already has strict rules under its network security ordinance, which Drei fulfills.

"A large-scale replacement of existing infrastructure mandated by regulation would be a multi-year project with considerable customer impact and would require investments of several hundred million euros," Petra Jakob, head of corporate communications at Drei, said, referring to several thousand mobile sites.

"Objective technical risk criteria, realistic transition periods and an EU regulation that builds on existing national security requirements instead of creating duplicate regulation" would also be needed, Jakob said.

China has expressed serious concern over the moves by some EU countries to ban equipment from Chinese companies, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said Thursday, calling for a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment.

At a regular press conference, ministry spokesperson He Yadong noted that China has consistently maintained that 5G is critical infrastructure for the development of the global digital economy, and its construction and operation should respect market principles, technological neutrality and international rules.

China firmly opposes the politicization of technological issues and the overstretching of the concept of national security, he said. ■