Conquer Club

The latest news is that U.K. intelligence community reviewers will advise that risks associated with the inclusion of Huawei equipment can be mitigated. “I think it is a more complicated issue than 'in or out', Alex Younger said last weekend, with the Chief of U.K. intelligence agency MI6 adding "I'm not pretending I have the full answer for this, I am saying that it's important for us to work through all of this stuff.”

Prompted by the U.K about-turn, the U.S. campaign in Europe looks decidedly unstable as MWC approaches. On Tuesday, CNBC translated a spokesperson for Germany's Federal Interior Ministry BMI) saying that "a direct exclusion of a particular 5G manufacturer is currently not legally possible and not planned. For the BMI, the focus is on adapting the necessary security requirements so that the security of these networks is guaranteed, even from a producer that may not be trustworthy."

Separately, Bloomberg reported Michele Geraci, undersecretary at Italy's Ministry for Economic Development, saying "people always say Huawei yes or no, the real question should be about foreign equipment manufacturers being allowed to access your network. I don’t see Huawei as an issue, for me, it’s just one of 25 names of equipment manufacturers that you can choose from, with different prices and different quality."

Beyond Europe, also on Tuesday CNN reported the CEO of Huawei India saying that "with all my engagements with the Indian government, nobody has told me that you have a problem. Everybody said we understand ... nobody told me that we have an issue with you."

Even New Zealand, where Huawei looked set to be excluded, might be softening its stance on any blanket ban.