Germany Will Phase Out Huawei & ZTE Components from Its 5G Network

• After the US, UK, Japan, and Australia, it's now Germany's turn to phase out Huawei and ZTE components over the next five years.
• Germany has the same concerns as the US-that China might use its influence on these companies to spy on German citizens.
• Chinese authorities and the Chinese embassy in Germany are very unhappy with this move.
• Also, Huawei has denied the allegations and said that there's no proof that Huawei components are a cybersecurity risk to Germany.

Germany is the latest country to have decided to ban Huawei and ZTE components, followed by the US, UK, Japan, and Australia.

The process of phasing out components developed by these Chinese companies will take place over the next 5 years.

Telephone operators like Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, and Telefonica have already agreed to remove the components from their 5G core network" by the end of 2026.

By the end of 2029, these components will also be purged from the physical components of the 5G network, such as towers and transmission lines.

Why Is Germany Removing Chinese Companies?

China doesn't have the best reputation right now, especially in the West-take the massive U.S. TikTok ban, for example, or China's decision to ban AMD and Intel chips from its government offices.

However, without directly pointing fingers at China, Germany said it's important to:

• Build a secure and resilient telecommunications infrastructure
• Mitigate the risks of data breaches and espionage
• Reduce one-sided dependencies

What Does Huawei and ZTE Have to Say about This?

Huawei said that Germany's concerns are baseless, as there's no evidence to prove that its components, or the company in itself, can pose a cybersecurity risk to Germany.

ZTE has refrained from commenting on the matter, at least for now.

Huawei has decided to cooperate with its customers and partners, keep working on improving its technology and cybersecurity, and contribute to the advancement of digitalization in Germany.

The Chinese embassy in Germany is also unhappy with this decision and wants necessary actions to be taken to protect the interests of Chinese companies.

Germany's move will seriously damage mutual trust between the two sides, and will also affect future cooperation between China and Europe in related fields." - Chinese embassy in Germany

The relationship between China and Germany is quite strained right now. Just last week, Berlin blocked the sale of a Volkswagen subsidiary to a Chinese state-owned company on national security grounds. This decision was heavily criticized by Beijing.

So, now that Germany is banning Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network industry, the relationship between the two nations is expected to get even sour.

On Thursday last week, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed this incident and warned that mixing economic, trade, and technological issues with politics will only disturb the normal exchange of technical discoveries.Brief History of US's Ban on Huawei & ZTE

Among all the countries, the U.S. perhaps has the strictest bans against the aforementioned companies.

It all started in 2019 after Trump passed an execution order banning the use of chips from foreign companies. Although it didn't specifically talk about Huawei, the Entity List" created back then had Huawei's name on it.

Following this, Google declared that it'll also be cutting ties with Huawei to comply with this executive order. Then in 2022, the U.S. banned the sale and import of new communication equipment from five companies, including ZTE and Huawei.

Lastly, in 2024, the U.S. revoked the license of companies that allowed them to ship tech equipment, such as chips to Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE.

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