"The Swedish authorities' decision to discriminate
against Huawei and exclude it from the 5G rollout has significantly harmed
Huawei's investment in Sweden, in breach of Sweden's international
obligations," the Chinese company said in a statement to AFP.
The company had therefore "initiated arbitration
proceedings" under the World Bank Group's International Centre for
Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) "against the Kingdom of Sweden
following a number of measures taken by the Swedish authorities targeting
directly Huawei's investments in Sweden and excluding Huawei from the rollout
of 5G network products and services in the country," Huawei added.
Huawei did not specify what damages it was seeking, but
according to public broadcaster SVT, the initial sum sought was SEK 5.2 billion,
but it could end up being much higher.
Following the UK in mid-2020, Sweden became the second
country in Europe and the first in the EU to explicitly ban network operators
from using Huawei equipment in the buildup of the infrastructure needed to run
its 5G network.
Sweden also ordered Huawei to remove already installed
equipment by January 1, 2025.
After an appeal from Huawei a Swedish court confirmed the
decision by Sweden's Post and Telecom Authority in June 2021.
The decision strained relations between Sweden and China,
with Beijing at the time warning that PTS's decision could have
"consequences" for the Scandinavian country's companies in China,
prompting Swedish telecom giant and Huawei competitor Ericsson to fear
retaliation.