HWBRIEF
Operators put the rip and replace bill at €30–40B ($34–46B), arguing the Commission's €3.4–4.3B per year figure counts only mobile networks and hides its methodology.
A GSMA Intelligence study commissioned by seven major European operator groups estimates that removing so-called "high-risk vendor" equipment from EU telecom networks will cost €30–40 billion (roughly $34–46 billion). That figure is well above the European Commission's own €3.4–4.3 billion-per-year mobile-only projection.
The Commission is amending the Cybersecurity Act (CSA2), the EU's main cybersecurity law, to require operators to strip out equipment from vendors deemed high-risk. That category is widely understood to cover Huawei and ZTE, even though the legislation does not name them. The GSMA study breaks the bill down to €16–22 billion for mobile networks, up to €5 billion for fixed, and €9–12 billion for transport.
Operators frame the gap as a scope and methodology dispute, not a magnitude one. The Commission figure measures annual mobile-only opex; the GSMA study measures one-time capex across mobile, fixed, and transport. A senior GSMA Intelligence analyst told EE Times the Commission estimate omits fixed and transport costs and that its methodology has not been published.
The source warns the bill could slow Europe's 6G transition, though that timing risk rests on a single reporting channel. What remains open is whether the Commission will publish the model behind its number, and whether a non-aligned counter-estimate lands before CSA2 advances.