Germany to largely exclude Huawei from 5G network from 2029: media report

4 months ago 29

Germany plans to largely exclude Chinese components such as those from Huawei and ZTE from its 5G mobile network by 2029, with an interim step in 2026, according to a media report.

Public broadcasters NDR, WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Wednesday (10 July) that government officials and telecoms operators such as Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica had reached an agreement earlier this week outlining a two-stage plan to phase out Chinese components from their 5G networks.

Under the agreement, the core network of 5G, the backbone of the infrastructure, including data centres crucial for processing and transmitting data, would be free of Chinese hardware by 2026. The access network, which connects users to the core network, such as radio masts, would be largely free of Chinese components by 2029. The management of the access network should also be completely free of Chinese components.

According to WDR, the agreement will soon be formalised in writing.

The agreement comes after the government initially wanted to phase out the Chinese companies even faster, the broadcaster notes.

In 2020, the European Commission’s “toolbox” for 5G allowed Huawei and ZTE to be excluded from these networks, which the EU executive deemed “high risk.”

Under the deal, the government would also waive a potential legal ban but would face fines if telecom operators did not comply.

According to a Commission report published in June, only 10 EU countries have restricted the use of Chinese companies’ hardware in their 5G networks. Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton criticised EU countries for being “too slow” in banning such high-risk vendors.

The affected telecom operators would not confirm the deal to WDR, while a spokesperson for Germany’s Interior Ministry said an audit of critical components in the 5G network was underway and would soon be completed.

In July 2023, Germany adopted a new ‘China Strategy’, which puts technological independence at the heart of its efforts to ‘de-risk’ its relationship with China.

[Edited by Eliza Gkritsi/Daniel Eck]

(Jonathan Packroff | Euractiv.de)