Telefonica (TEF.MC) has purchased 5G network equipment from Ericsson (ERICb.ST) of Sweden to replace some of the Huawei equipment it has deployed in Spain, according to a source inside the Spanish company on Monday, confirming a report in the Expansion newspaper.
According to the source, the replacement of next-generation mobile network equipment is part of Telefonica’s supplier diversification strategy, which was announced in 2019.
According to Expansion, the telecoms business brought out some Huawei equipment that it had already purchased before looking for alternative suppliers.
Telefonica’s source declined to specify how much equipment they bought from Ericsson or when they bought it.
Requests for comment from Huawei and Ericsson’s Spanish unit were not immediately returned.
Telefonica’s choice in 2019 came at a time when China’s Huawei, the world’s largest network equipment manufacturer, had become embroiled in political squabbles between Washington and Beijing.
The US has claimed that the company’s equipment may be used for espionage by the Chinese government. The charges have been frequently refuted by Huawei and Beijing.
When Telefonica unveiled its strategy two years ago, it claimed that its choice to diversify was entirely technical and that it had seen no evidence to back up American claims that Huawei equipment was a security danger.
