Politico | How US restrictions drove Huawei and Deutsche Telekom closer together
- Internal documents illustrate leading European operator’s special relationship with Chinese tech giant
- Huawei has pledged to shoulder burdens and costs of US measures, offering Deutsche Telekom a ‘care-free package’
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Laurens Cerulus on politico.com on July 7, 2020.
Global telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom strengthened its strategic partnership with Huawei last year despite growing defiance toward the dominant Chinese 5G vendor, documents reviewed by POLITICO show.
The internal company records describe how Deutsche Telekom and Huawei agreed on a deal in mid-2019 that said the Chinese supplier would take measures to avoid supply chain disruption caused by US measures, as well as cover the costs of potential damages and delays.
The deal was struck just weeks before the US administration imposed restrictions on businesses dealing with the Chinese firm in May 2019 – a milestone for Washington's efforts to push back against Huawei's dominance on 5G equipment.
08:55
Huawei's founder on US sanctions, 5G leadership and building trust in Europe
It laid the groundwork for a partnership between the two companies for the early roll-out of 5G networks in Europe, despite national lawmakers' efforts in key markets like Germany, the Netherlands and Poland to reduce the use of Chinese equipment.
In the months after the deal, the companies underlined mutual commitments to treat each other in preferential ways. Deutsche Telekom executives described Huawei repeatedly as a “strategic partner” that is “key for our 5G plans”, according to the internal documents.