• Reports from Portugal say Altice is seeking compensation over Chinese vendor ban
• Meo claims its 5G deployment was disrupted by the decision to exclude Huawei
• Citing security concerns, several European states have banned the deployment of kit from China and pressure from the EC on others to do so is mounting

Portuguese national telco Meo has launched legal action against the country’s government over the state’s decision to ban Huawei equipment from the country’s 5G networks.

The Altice-owned operator is seeking €82m in damages, arguing the move to ban the Chinese vendor caused the firm serious financial harm, according to a report from Portuguese news site Publico (subscription required).

According to Publico, Meo filed documents with the Lisbon Administrative Court on 24 April, targeting both the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the State’s Legal Centre.

Meo, in the filings, reportedly claims that the restrictions forced it to make substantial changes to its 5G network infrastructure, resulting in unexpected costs and operational challenges.

The suit follows a May 2023 decision in which Portugal’s CSSC cybersecurity board banned Chinese equipment from 5G mobile deployments, a decision that was upheld by the next Portuguese government, which came into power the following year.

Huawei itself had launched legal action against the resolution back in September 2023, but there has been no update on this case since 2024. However, Portugal’s main mobile operators – Meo/Altice, NOS and Vodafone – all said they would exclude Huawei from their core 5G networks.

The UK, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are among the European countries to have effectively banned Huawei from playing a part in their 5G network infrastructure: The UK had, in early 2020, granted the vendor a limited role in 5G rollouts before changing course six months later. 

Huawei and the Chinese state have repeatedly rejected claims that the vendor’s technology poses any security concerns.

The pressure on European Union (EU) member states to clamp down on the use of technology from “high-risk” vendors is mounting. 

In January this year, the European Commission (EC)’s revised Cybersecurity Act included measures that look set to force network operators to remove technology supplied by “high-risk third-country suppliers” from communications networks in EU member states: The move, which will require telcos to remove designated technologies from high-risk vendors within three years of the act coming into force, signals a stronger clampdown on Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE in the region.

Since 2020, mobile operators in EU countries have been asked to comply with recommended measures outlined in the EU toolbox for 5G security that was first introduced in 2020, but those measures have been voluntary and have not been uniformly implemented. Now, though, the measures in the new act are mandatory.

Such moves are championed by many industry observers but are not popular among the telco community: Numerous European telcos in recent years have, on background, complained that forced technology replacement programmes are not only a drain on human and financial resources but also leave them without the option to select network infrastructure products that they regard as by far the best available in the market.

TelecomTV contacted both Meo and Altice but received no response by the time of publishing. Huawei declined to comment.

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV