The Belgian military is required to replace hundreds of Huawei access points. Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder wants to stop Huawei’s devices from being used.
According to local media, the order is urgent. Some 300 Huawei wifi hotspots purchased between 2016 and 2019 need to be replaced. The Belgian military has disallowed Huawei devices for some time. It’s not clear why the hotspots in question went under the radar.
The access points were purchased to establish WiFi connections based on mobile networks. The WiFi connections were not connected to military networks.
Huawei equipment ban
Just like in many other Western countries, the use of Huawei equipment in the private sector is a sensitive topic. Some countries suspect the Chinese tech giant of building backdoors into its equipment, allowing Chinese authorities to monitor devices for espionage. The EU created regulations to prevent the latter.
In the Netherlands, too, the government is removing Huawei equipment from its IT environments. Other critical infrastructures and companies, such as telecom operators, aren’t allowed to use Huawei equipment and systems in their core networks.
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