Germany recently implemented stricter measures for all vendors but ruled out a ban of Huawei equipment
The U.S. government has told German authorities that it would limit intelligence sharing between the two countries if Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies is allowed to take part in Germany’s 5G contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In a letter to the German government, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell wrote that allowing the participation of Huawei or other Chinese equipment vendors in Germany’s 5G projects would mean the U.S. won’t be able to maintain the same level of cooperation with German security agencies.
“The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy has indeed received a letter; there is no comment on its content from their side. There will be a quick reply,” Matthias Wehler, spokesperson at the German embassy in Washington DC was quoted as saying by CNN.
Germany’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier recently said the country had no intentions to ban Huawei from building 5G networks in the country but highlighted that stricter security measures will be adopted for all vendors willing to take part in future network deployments in the country.
Germany’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) recently published the key elements of its additional security requirements for telecommunications networks and services.
The following additional security requirements are planned:
-Systems may only be sourced from trustworthy suppliers whose compliance with national security regulations and provisions for the secrecy of telecommunications and for data protection is assured.
-Network traffic must be regularly and constantly monitored for any abnormality and, if there is any cause for concern, appropriate protection measures must be taken.
-Security-related network and system components may only be used if they have been certified by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and undergone IT security checks by a BSI-approved testing body.
-Security-related network and system components may only be used following an appropriate acceptance test upon supply and must be subjected to regular and ongoing security tests. The components that are security-related will be defined by the BSI and Bundesnetzagentur by mutual agreement.
Several key European telcos including Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone said that a potential ban on Huawei would negatively impact the deployment of 5G in Europe. According to an internal report by Deutsche Telekom, the removal of Huawei from the list of 5G suppliers would delay the rollout of 5G by at least two years.
In its internal assessment, the German telco highlighted that 5G networks must be built on top of existing 4G infrastructure, which already relies extensively on Huawei equipment. If European governments ban Huawei and force operators to remove Huawei equipment, the telecom industry would see a huge financial impact, according to the report.
