WARSAW, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- If Poland bans Chinese tech giant Huawei from 5G development in the country, it could delay the entire network growth, the CEO of T-Mobile Poland said Thursday.

"If you exclude a market leader, and Huawei is a market leader in new technology, and knowing that you have almost all operators having Huawei equipment, this will bring some difficulties, this is clear. This could end up in a delay," Andreas Maierhofer, the T-Mobile Poland CEO, was quoted by media as saying during a press conference about the company's annual results.

T-Mobile Poland, owned by Deutsche Telekom, launched a commercial 5G network in Warsaw at the end of 2018, using technology from Huawei. Initially tested on selected business partners in the center of the capital, it would be expanded gradually into other cities.

The U.S. has been urging Poland and other EU countries to exclude Huawei from 5G development, claiming the company's technology would compromise users' security. Huawei denies claims that its technology could be used for espionage, and until now no evidence has been raised to support the allegations.

Huawei said earlier this month that the company has an excellent cyber security record, with its devices being approved by strict reviews by multiple regulators and operators.