Telefonica has purchased 5G network equipment from Swedish manufacturer Ericsson to replace some of the Huawei equipment it has rolled out in Spain, a source at the Spanish company said Monday, confirming a report in Expansion newspaper.
The replacement of next-generation mobile network equipment is part of Telefonica’s strategy announced in 2019 to diversify suppliers, according to the source.
Expansion said the telecom company initially rolled out some Huawei equipment it had already bought before looking for alternative supplies.
The source at Telefonica declined to say how much equipment Telefonica purchased from Ericsson or when the purchase was made.
The Spanish unit of Huawei and Ericsson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Telefonica’s decision in 2019 came at a time when China’s Huawei, the global leader in network equipment, found itself in the midst of political tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The US claims that the company’s equipment can be used by the Chinese government for espionage. Huawei and Beijing have repeatedly denied the allegations.
When Telefonica announced its strategy two years ago, it said its decision to diversify was purely technical and had seen no evidence to support US allegations that Huawei equipment posed a security risk.