In the bombastic days of the post-vote, with the energy emergency dominating the scene, the Draghi government, now in its final stages, has made a significant shift in the security of 5G communications without too much fanfare. It did so by exercising the “golden power”, ie special powers, with reference to the annual contract plans of Tim and Vodafone, the two main telecommunications operators in Italy.
The details of the measures approved by the Council of Ministers on September 28, viewed by Sole 24 Oresanction what was already in the air, that is, a gradual exit from the scene of the Chinese supplier Huawei, in consideration of potential risks for cybersecurity.
The annual plans are a novelty introduced by the “Ukraine decree” of last March, a way to have under control not a single contract but the medium-term evolution of technology development. For both Tim and Vodafone, the 2022-2023 plans have been approved but with the obligation to follow a series of prescriptions. The investigations, completed by the offices of Palazzo Chigi after the preparatory work of the Ministry of Economic Development, also required the collaboration of the Cybersecurity Agency and involved the two operators with hearings.
Disposal of Huawei’s Ran equipment by Tim
Tim’s annual plan foresees, for the Core part of the network, that is the “brain” of the infrastructure that connects the access parts, the use of 100% equipment of the Swedish company Ericsson, while for the implementation of private networks dedicated is the Italian Athonet. As for the network access section (Ran radio access network), at present the supplier base sees Ericsson at 53%, the Finnish Nokia at 27% and Huawei at 20%. However, Tim has already started a process of decommissioning Huawei equipment which will see Ericsson at 70% and Nokia at 30% rise, he assures himself in the annual plan. Hence the approval by the Palazzo Chigi working group on golden power, which considered the supplier diversification program in favor of EU and US operators to be satisfactory. But the authorization was in any case conditioned by Tim’s obligation to prepare a risk analysis to be attached to the signing of contracts with customers who want to create private networks by identifying IT security measures to mitigate risks.
The case for Vodafone is more complicated
More complex is the discussion regarding the activity in Italy of the British group Vodafone. For the Core part of the network, at present Ericsson and the American Juniper are both at about 40% while Huawei and Nokia are at 10% each. In the government proceeding it should be noted that the company stated that the development of the infrastructure, beyond the horizon of the annual plan, foresees Juniper at 41%, Nokia at 45% and just under 15% that remains to be assigned to suppliers still to be identify and therefore to be included in the next annual plan. Coming to the Ran part of the network, Huawei and Nokia practically divide the number of devices in half (Center-South in the first case and North in the second). And this scheme does not seem destined to change even in the light of new contracts envisaged in the annual plan examined. A situation that however led to approval by the Council of Ministers, but with the condition that the operator achieves a drastic rebalancing of the weight of non-EU suppliers to the advantage of European ones in the radio component of the network. This, however, does not only mean a detailed program of diversification of future contracts but – and it is a heavy footnote – also the obligation to gradually replace the Chinese equipment already installed with those of EU companies once they reach the end of their life cycle. useful, which according to the executive technicians cannot in any case exceed six years.