Belgian cybersecurity agency finds no threat from Huawei

Belgium's centre for cybersecurity has found no evidence that telecoms equipment supplied by Huawei Technology could be used for spying.

The agency, which reports to the Belgian prime minister, had been tasked with analysing the possible threat posed by Huawei, which supplies equipment to Belgian mobile operators Proximus, Orange Belgium and Telenet.

"Until now we have not found technical indications that point in the direction of a spying threat," a spokesman for the agency said on Monday. "We are not providing a final report on the matter, but are continuing to look into it."

Huawei has been barred from supplying Australian telcos with 5G equipment. The USA has done likewise, citing concerns over the company's ties to the Chinese government, and says other Western countries should block its technology.

Germany last month set tougher criteria for vendors supplying telecoms network equipment, but stopped short of singling out Huawei, instead saying the same rules should apply to all vendors.

Britain publicly chastised Huawei for failing to fix long-standing security flaws in its mobile network equipment and revealed new "significant technical issues".

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Alexander Smith)