Keep knowledgeable with free updates
Merely signal as much as the Chinese language politics & coverage myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.
China is curbing the usage of European telecom equipment suppliers Nokia and Ericsson in its networks as President Xi Jinping pushes to decouple the nation’s essential tech infrastructure from the west.
Two individuals accustomed to the matter mentioned Chinese language state-backed patrons of IT tools — which embrace cell community operators, utilities and different industries — have begun extra carefully analysing and policing international bids.
That course of has required contracts by Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia to be submitted for “black field” nationwide safety opinions by the Our on-line world Administration of China the place the businesses aren’t advised how their gear is assessed.
The opinions by the highly effective tech watchdog can stretch three months or longer. Even in circumstances the place the European teams in the end safe approval, the prolonged and unsure audits typically depart them at an obstacle to Chinese language rivals that face no such scrutiny, the individuals mentioned.
“If China is doing this for nationwide safety causes, the query is why Europe doesn’t reciprocate by making use of the identical commonplace,” mentioned one of many individuals, who requested to not be named.
Beijing’s effort to curtail European distributors follows the same drive in Europe, the place some governments have warned in opposition to working with Chinese language telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE. However up to now these calls have had a small influence on the Chinese language firms’ market share on the continent.
China’s nationwide safety opinions come as Xi pushes a self-strengthening drive aiming to switch broad swaths of international expertise. Final month, with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at his aspect, Xi declared China “doesn’t worry energy or coercion” because it “stands strongly by itself with self-reliance.”
Beijing’s efforts to part out European tools deepened after a 2022 replace to the cyber safety legislation, which required operators of “essential data infrastructure” to submit any buy with potential safety dangers for assessment by CAC.
State patrons of telecom tools now require bidders to incorporate detailed documentation on each element of their programs and the portion of native content material, mentioned the individuals accustomed to the method, noting international teams have been even together with the small print of Chinese language R&D efforts to attempt to bolster their purposes.
Prospects ship the detailed packets to CAC for approval, which opinions the bundle and instantly notifies the state-owned patrons whether or not they can proceed with the purchases.
Beijing’s rising gross sales restrictions have collapsed Ericsson’s and Nokia’s mixed market share in China’s cell telecoms networks to about 4 per cent final yr from 12 per cent in 2020, in response to analyst Stefan Pongratz at analysis supplier Dell’Oro Group.
Each firms have reported declining China revenues, with Nokia’s in-country revenues falling by double digit percentages from 2023.
“It’s so sluggish that even the breadcrumbs of market share [the European companies] get from main tenders are sometimes shifted to Chinese language distributors,” mentioned one of many individuals.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China just lately mentioned the localisation necessities in IT and telecom posed an “existential risk” to the continent’s tech teams. Almost three quarters of respondents to the chamber’s latest member survey mentioned the restrictions had misplaced them enterprise.
European policymakers have additionally voiced safety issues about Chinese language telecom distributors, warning of espionage dangers and potential backdoor entry. However most capitals have been sluggish to impose bans, deterred by the low price of Chinese language tools and the will to keep away from frightening Beijing.
Round 5 years after the European Fee urged member states to bar high-risk suppliers reminiscent of Huawei and ZTE, solely 10 of the EU’s 27 nations had launched restrictions as of June 2025, in response to regulatory analysis agency Cullen Worldwide.
Huawei and ZTE have retained 30 to 35 per cent of the European cell infrastructure market, down solely 5 to 10 share factors from 2020, information from Dell’Oro Group reveals.
Germany has 59 per cent of put in 5G gear sourced from Chinese language teams, in response to John Strand of Strand Seek the advice of, although the nation plans to part out excessive danger Chinese language distributors by 2029.
“All of the cell community tools in Berlin is Chinese language,” mentioned Strand. “Germany has large industries like chemical substances and automobiles that don’t need relations with China to be damage.”
Ericsson and Nokia declined to remark. CAC didn’t reply to a request for remark.
