STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A Swedish court on Monday granted a stay against Swedish telecoms regulator PTS’ decision last month to exclude Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei from its 5G networks.
Huawei last week appealed against the decision saying it wanted a court to check if the decision had been taken according to the law.
Certain parts of PTS’ decision prior to the upcoming 5G auction will not apply until further notice, the Stockholm administrative court said in a decision which would allow Huawei’s involvement in Sweden’s impending 5G spectrum auction.
The auctions were expected to start from Tuesday, and would have benefited Nokia and Ericsson as PTS had asked companies taking part in the auctions to remove Huawei and ZTE equipment from their infrastructure as of Jan. 1, 2025.
“The Administrative Court has reached the conclusion that Huawei has the right to appeal the PTS decision,” Senior Judge Johan Lundmark said in the court statement.
“The decision granting a stay means that the terms concerning, among other things, the use of products from Huawei until further notice do not apply during the Administrative Court’s continued deliberation of the case.”
Lundmark added that it would be up to PTS to decide whether to proceed with the 5G auction. A PTS spokesman said they would need to read the court decision before giving a statement.
“This is not a victory for Huawei and it is not a loss for the Swedish government,” said industry consultant John Strand.
“Now you have two parallel process – a 5G auction and a case regarding the national security,” he said.
Huawei did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Helena Soderpalm and Supantha Mukherjee; editing by Niklas Pollard)
