Telecom operator Meo is suing the Portuguese state for €81.7 million in damages following the removal of Huawei equipment from Portuguese ’'s 5G networks, the newspaper Público reported on Monday.
The report includes the applications made on the Citius portal regarding the cases filed against the Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Law Center in ’ne, Lisbon Administrative Court on April 24.
Meo, part of the Altice Portugal portfolio, argues that ’ was harmed by ’'s “idari decisions by the Security Assessment Commission, which operates under the Supreme Council for Cyber Space Security, ”.
As a result, the company announced that “ was exposed to special and abnormal damage.
This is a decision that marks the ’ high risk of using equipment from suppliers outside the EU, NATO or OECD for national 5G network security, as agreed by the commission in the first half of 2023“ and first reported by the Lusa news agency.
The decision was implemented in cases where the legal framework of the country where the supplier is located allowed the government to implement “ control, intervention or pressure on the company's activities abroad.
The decision did not directly refer to any country or company, but Huawei was its main target both in Portugal’ and other European countries followed by similar exclusions.
As reported by ECO magazine, Huawei technology was widely used by Meo in building its 5G network, and the decision forced the company to overhaul that part of its operations.
Huawei filed an administrative lawsuit against the ’nde decision in the September 2023’te Lisbon Administrative Court. Nine months later, Lusa’ya, a spokesman for the Security Assessment Commission, said “ was following the judicial course of the case.
The decision has sparked criticism from the Portuguese ’'s telecommunications sector. November 2023’te Vodafone Portugal general manager Luís Lopes said that the Expresso’ya commission's move is more ’agresive“ than the measures implemented elsewhere in AB”, and therefore “ is not particularly well evaluated.
Miguel Almeida, managing director of NOS, May 2024’te APDC’nin 33. The Digital Business Congress reiterated this view at ’ and said the decision goes far beyond the implementation at “ Europe in terms of the diversity of network components covered by ’.
