Viviane Reding Applauds Huawei Europe Manufacturing

Huawei is negotiating for a European assembly plant for 5G, a move it has been considering since before the political crisis. Viviane Reding said that “Of course this will really be a boost to credibility since the manufacturing would be under European rules”

Reding was a passionate supporter of a better Internet when she was the telecom leading at the EU. She insisted that roaming charges be reduced and eventually eliminated. That brings down consumer costs.

Reducing competition by blocking Huawei and ZTE would raise prices and possibly reduce 5G deployment. That’s a high price to pay unless security risks are proven. Viviane is a conservative who understands competition is crucial.

Huawei is by far the most international company in telecom. It has large research establishments in Canada, Germany, UK, Scandinavia, India, Russia and more. It wants to open a relatively modest chip foundry in England and is scouting locations for manufacturing as well.

There is relatively little labor involved in telecom production so high wages are not a major impediment.