France to allow some Huawei 5G gear

Reuters reports:

France will authorize the use of some of Huawei’s equipment in the rollout of its 5G network, two sources close to the matter told Reuters, despite U.S. calls to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from the West’s next-generation communications.

The French cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, is due to tell telecoms operators which equipment they are allowed to use for the deployment of their 5G network in France, but has not made public any decision.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., Trump signed off on another law targeting Huawei. According to Reuters, the legislation bars “telecom carriers from using U.S. subsidies to purchase network equipment from Huawei Technologies and other companies deemed a national security threat.”

The affected carriers are small, rural operators that have grown reliant on cheap equipment from China. So the law “also requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish a program to assist small providers with the costs of removing prohibited equipment or services from their networks and replacing it.”