Germany plans to ban telecoms operators from using certain components made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in 5G networks, a government source said, in a potentially significant move to address security concerns.
“The main change is that these strict checks for potential security risks now also apply to the existing components in telecommunications networks,” the spokesperson said, adding that operators would not be compensated for parts that needed to be ripped out of the network and replaced. Critics of Huawei and ZTE say that their close links to Beijing’s security services mean that embedding them in the ubiquitous mobile networks of the future could give Chinese spies and even saboteurs access to essential infrastructure.
“The devil is in the details, it would be a major step forward if this included all access network components where operators have made excessive use of Huawei in recent years,” said Thorsten Benner, China expert and director of the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin.
Both are doing for their own national interests. Great competition!