The country’s Minister for Digital Development made clear statements to the press.
Background: In recent months, several governments around the world have raised concerns about the security of Chinese network components for 5G, Huawei in particular. This has resulted in bans in some countries (Australia, New Zealand) with others actively considering intervention in the coming months.
Sweden joins the group: This week, the Minister for Energy and Digital Development Anders Ygeman announced legislation to be able to exclude components, suppliers and operators that do not have a sufficiently high level of safety, and which can cause danger to Sweden's security. The minister did not name Chinese vendors, although it can be assumed they are the ultimate target of the initiative. The government aims to place the responsibility for safety on the operators which purchase equipment from vendors: those who fail to keep standards “risk not building their 5G networks or getting their licences revoked”, the minister said.
Legislation is imminent: The government aims to address the matter before the 5G spectrum auction scheduled for December 2019. For this reason, the minister said Sweden cannot wait for the EU to reach a common approach: security requirements “cannot come into place after we have auctioned out spectrum”.
