Spain’s Telefonica (Movistar) is looking for a new supplier for the User Plane Function (UPF) component of its 5G Standalone (SA) network, marketed as 5G+, as it implements plans to remove Chinese-made equipment from its mobile infrastructure. Upon completion the company says its network will use ‘only European brands’ and indicates its willingness to cooperate with the EU which is asking companies to remove Huawei and ZTE-made gear from ‘sensitive areas of the network, such as the core’ on the grounds of national security. Most of Movistar’s 5GC core was supplied by Ericsson but it is unclear at this point whether the Swedish tech giant will get the nod to deploy the new UPF component of the core.
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