High costs will not deter Germany from removing Huawei parts
- Unlike many EU countries, Germany originally avoided an outright ban of Huawei 5G technology amid US pressure
- The Interior Ministry is carrying out an audit of the nation’s 5G network to assess how much of it is made up of components from Huawei and ZTE
Germany's Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, said she will not be deterred by the high cost of removing Chinese components from the country’s 5G telecommunications network if it is in the best interests of national security.
Speaking to the Handelsblatt newspaper, Faeser said if there is a high risk of having components from Chinese providers Huawei Technologies and ZTE in the German network, that the argument that it will be expensive to replace the parts is not an excuse not to do so.
“We will prohibit components if they pose a serious security risk,” Faeser said. “The network operators will have to act and dismantle the components.”
Unlike many European Union countries, Germany originally avoided an outright ban of Huawei 5G equipment amid US pressure to cut Chinese infrastructure providers. Instead, the government decided all components that were deemed “critical IT infrastructure” needed to be certified by the authorities.
China built 600,000 5G stations in 3 months — beating US’ 100,000 in 2 years
The Interior Ministry is carrying out an audit of the nation’s 5G mobile network to assess how much of it is made up of components from Huawei and ZTE.
Faeser said that, while the audit is not yet complete, the risks of having Chinese components in the network have been “known for a long time”.
“Our security services have repeatedly warned against one-sided dependencies,” Faeser said. “I think the network providers have had enough time to adjust to this.
