With the EC classifying Huawei and ZTE as security risks, Germany may follow suit despite DT disapproval
Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior has told Handelsblatt that further use of Chinese suppliers Huawei and ZTE in public 5G mobile networks: “could likely affect public order or security in the Federal Republic.”
German Government ministries have been trying to walk the tightrope between security service warnings and the nation’s economic interests. Since Spring, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has been checking all critical equipment already installed in the network by the vendors. Essentially the government has powers to “prohibit the use of all critical components from the manufacturer…” if “serious” security problems exist.
Traffic light coalition politician, the FDP’s Maximilian Funke-Kaiser called for the powers to be implemented: “as quickly as possible in order to initiate a planned, orderly exchange of critical components.” Politicians from the SPD and CDU are also increasingly calling to remove unreliable suppliers from telco critical infrastructure.
Handelsblatt said the BSI’s focus is on components of 4G networks that become 5G-capable via a software update and can “therefore take over critical functions for network operation.” Remote software updates could potentially collect data, or in the most extreme case shut down a network – although the latter claim was labelled “absurd” by security authorities.
Rearguard action
Speaking at the Federation of German Industries this week Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges downplayed the threat of radio access network kit like antennas being critical, despite more compute processing moving to the edge. He also warned the gathered business-folk that banning antennas would have consequences for other industries selling products to China.
DT’s position is understandable given Strand Consult estimates that Huawei accounts for almost 60% of Germany 5G installed equipment base, mainly in DT and Telefónica. The equipment replacement costs will be material, as Australia proved when its federal government made the decision to ban Huawei equipment from Australian 5G networks in 2018.
Australian number two operator Optus still argues that because it had already deployed Huawei equipment into its 4G network at the time the ban came into force, and market-leader Telstra – which relies on Ericsson – had not, it was placed at an ongoing competitive disadvantage.
However, with the interior and foreign ministries in Germany advocating for a tougher line, the pendulum is swinging against the Chinese vendors and could even extend into other critical infrastructure networks like road and rail.