Huawei's head of sales in Poland, identified in media reports as a Chinese national named Weijing W., has been arrested by the Polish government and charged with spying.

The New York Times reports that a Polish national and Orange employee was also arrested; both men pleaded not guilty and refused to answer questions.

A spokesman for the Polish security services told Reuters that the allegations were related to individual actions and were not linked directly to Huawei.

"Orange can confirm that an investigation by Polish authorities is ongoing," said an Orange Group spokesperson in an email to Light Reading. "The Group is following the development of this investigation with interest and will fully cooperate with any requests for information from the relevant authorities. At this stage, Orange does not have any further information regarding the investigation and cannot make any further comment. The Group will take all necessary measures to protect its interests, and in particular those of its Polish subsidiary and its customers, while ensuring that all due respect is taken with regards to the presumption of innocence."

Huawei didn't respond to requests for comment.

Apropos of nothing at all, then, Orange has ruled out using Huawei gear in France but continues to use the vendor's gear in Poland, where there are no national restrictions on the use of Chinese vendors in core telecom infrastructure.

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— Phil Harvey, US News Editor, Light Reading