FILE PHOTO – A pedestrian holding a mobile phone walks past a logo of SoftBank Corp in front of its branch in Tokyo December 31, 2013. REUTERS/Yuya Shino
TOKYO (Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp plans to replace 4G network equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd with hardware from Nokia and Ericsson, Nikkei reported on Thursday, without citing sources.
SoftBank will also order equipment from the two European suppliers instead of Huawei for its next-generation 5G network, Nikkei reported.
The move comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of Chinese tech firms by Washington and some prominent allies over ties to the Chinese government, driven by concerns they could be used by Beijing for spying.
Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Himani Sarkar