French telecoms operator Free, a subsidiary of Iliad <ILD.PA>, has not been authorised by the government to roll out mobile gear manufactured by China's Huawei [HWT.UL], contrary to local rivals Bouygues Telecom <BOUY.PA> and SFR <ATCA.AS>, its CEO said on Tuesday.
"This breach of equal treatment is problematic", Thomas Reynaud told a press conference after Iliad published its first-half results.
He added Free was considering turning to Finland's Nokia <NOKIA.HE> for the deployment of its 5G network.
(Reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic, Writing by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Mark Potter)
