German 5G Rules Do Not Bar Huawei

Management at Huawei Technologies will be encouraged by the news that Germany has opted not to ban the firm from the deployment of 5G networks.

The move came when Germany’s federal network regulator on Tuesday unveiled rules for the build-out of 5G mobile networks, Reuters reported.

The news will come as a blow to the United States, which has been seeking to persuade allies around the world to ban Huawei kit in 5G networks, for ‘national security’ reasons.

UK delay

Huawei has already scored the backing of some countries, such as Russia, but Western countries have remained on the fence for some time.

In September the founder of Huawei Ren Zhengfei made an extraordinary peace offer to the United States, when he offered to sell the firm’s 5G technology to a Western buyer, to allay nation security concerns.

The UK is expected to finally make its decision about Huawei in the Autumn.

The decision was already supposed to have been made, but was delayed by the departure of previous Prime Minister Theresa May.

The House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee has previously said there were no technical grounds for a complete ban on the Chinese firm.

That came after the UK’s National Security Council (NSC) had in April agreed to allow Huawei limited access to help build parts of the 5G network such as antennas and other “non-core” infrastructure.

The US government has repeatedly warned against using any Huawei equipment on national security grounds.

But, it should be noted that three of the UK’s largest wireless providers (EE, Vodafone, and Three) are all using Huawei to build their 5G networks.

The only exception to this is O2, which has instead opted to use 5G equipment from Ericsson and Nokia.

So any decision to ban completely the Chinese firm will require the equipment to be retroactively removed from the 5G networks built so far by Vodafone, EE, and Three.

German decision

But over in Germany, it looks as those it will ignore US concerns.

Under the new German rules, which will become law by the end of this year or early in 2020, operators have to guarantee that no information is shared with foreign authorities.

“The requirements are not specifically directed at individual vendors,” a spokesman for the federal regulator BnetzA was quoted by Reuters as saying, adding that further regulation will be introduced if required.

According to the rules, critical infrastructure will be subject to a certification process.

Do you know all about security? Try our quiz!