Monaco may be a tiny principality perched on a few rocks along France’s coastline, but its considerable wealth and financial clout mean it has always punched well above its weight on the international stage. Now Monaco Telecom has gained further notoriety by becoming the first European operator to fully base its 5G network on equipment from Huawei.

Although a number of operators are still using Huawei equipment in the less sensitive radio access network (RAN), as recently indicated by Vodafone UK, it seems that Monaco Telecom has remained unfazed by the controversy surrounding the China-based vendor and is using Huawei equipment for all elements of the 5G network.

The two companies signed an agreement in September 2018 to make Monaco “the first country fully covered” by 5G. The network has now launched commercially meaning that businesses and consumers will be able to buy and use 5G smartphones. 5G services are also offered free of charge to all Monaco Telecom customers until July 31.

The deployment in Monaco could also serve as a useful 5G and Huawei testbed for other operators in Europe that are still agonizing over future 5G technology choices. However Monaco Telecom, which is owned by French billionaire Xavier Niel, the businessman who also launched Free Mobile in France and Iliad in Italy, has acknowledged that it is not immune to the security concerns linked to the use of Chinese 5G equipment.

Martin Peronnet, CEO of Monaco Telecom, expressed some concerns in May, telling BFMTV that it was “worrying” when a company uses such “a large supplier that is subject to restrictions.”

Monaco Telecom has also indicated that it has taken measures to protect its network against any potential espionage threats. Peronnet defended the use of Huawei by telling the AFP news agency in May that there are “many countries and operators that are in the process of finalizing a 5G rollout with Huawei or who have already done so.”

The principality is also rolling out a number of smart city applications based on 5G such as connected bus shelters with public WiFi services and the integration of 5G technology with autonomous vehicles. Furthermore, fire fighters are planning to use 5G-enabled surveillance drones equipped with high-definition cameras and a pre-diagnosis application to improve survival rates of fire victims.

Despite international opposition — especially from the US — over the use of China-based equipment in 5G networks, Huawei still seems to be picking up 5G contracts, and has flagged its 50th contract win.

A recent report from GlobalData, which assessed the respective 5G RAN technologies from Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, and ZTE, also said Huawei’s 5G RAN portfolio holds the strongest position overall, “with leading claims in all four criteria categories including superior baseband unit capacity and radio unit portfolio breadth.”