Tommi Uitto, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia (pictured), admitted the Finnish vendor along with Ericsson would inevitably be excluded from operating in China, as he urged the European Union (EU) to retaliate as strongly as possible against Chinese counterparts.

Speaking ahead of the official opening of Nokia’s new R&D and production facility in Oulu, Finland, Uitto noted western suppliers had seen their market share in China decline steadily over time, leaving his company with around 3 per cent.

“We are going to be excluded from China for national security reasons,” he said.

When this happens, Uitto argued the EU would have to respond “symmetrically”, opening “the opportunity for Nokia to take market share from high-risk vendors in like-minded countries”.

“Many countries have already banned [in the EU], but there are also many countries who have not banned high-risk vendors here,” he added.

Uitto spoke shortly after Nokia CEO Justin Hotard, who also pressed the EU to act against so-called high-risk vendors, revealing he discussed the situation privately and in Brussels during his first few months in the role.

“Europe has got to do two things. One is we can’t allow high risk vendors in our networks. Why do we allow that, particularly when they do not allow us to play in their markets.”

Secondly, Hotard urged the European Commission loosen competition rules to allow for more innovation, pointing to the varying sizes of each country in the bloc.

“Some markets here are very small, based on the size of the country and the population. There just isn’t sufficient scale to support the capital deployment, the capital necessary to buy spectrum and capital necessary to operate a network and that constrains innovation.”

Hotard will officially open the Oulu campus later today (5 September), alongside Finnish President Alexander Stubb.