2024-07-11 15:41:00
Berlin has finally banged its fist on the table. At a press conference on Thursday, Nancy Faeser, the German Minister of the Interior, announced that Chinese equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE will have to pack their bags. The use of the services of these two telecom giants will no longer be tolerated in 5G networks. « On 5G network cores [où transitent toutes les communications, Ndlr]Huawei and ZTE components will no longer be able to be used by the end of 2026 at the latestthe minister explained. For 5G access and transport networks, critical management systems (from both manufacturers, Editor’s note) will have to be replaced by the end of 2029 at the latest.”
The minister emphasizes that this decision “will apply to the whole of Germany”. It will therefore concern all operators in the country. Starting with Deutsche Telekom, the European number one in telecoms, which makes extensive use of Huawei’s services. The same goes for the German branch of Vodafone, as well as that of the Spanish Telefonica. All these players have continued, in recent years, to supply themselves from Huawei and ZTE to modernize their 4G antennas and upgrade them to 5G. According to a survey published last year by Strand Consult, a Danish firm specializing in telecoms, 59% of them come from Chinese suppliers. “Huawei enjoys a larger market share in Berlin than in Beijing, where it shares the market with ZTE and other vendors”the study even specified.
This decision by Berlin is likely to cost German operators dearly. They will most likely have to replace their Chinese equipment with that of the two other major global equipment manufacturers, the Finnish Nokia and the Swedish Ericsson. This might also slow down the deployment of 5G in Germany, in a context where this technology is seen as a major catalyst for business competitiveness.
It is, unsurprisingly, for security reasons that Berlin has chosen to cut ties with Huawei and ZTE. Germany’s decision aims to ” protect the nervous system of the German economy, as well that communications from our fellow citizens and businesses in our country”justified Nancy Faeser. Huawei and ZTE have been accused for years of spying for Beijing by the United States, which has banned them from its mobile networks.
Brussels’ growing hostility towards Huawei
These two giants of digital infrastructure in the Middle Kingdom also arouse the greatest suspicion in Europe. In addition to espionage concerns, many countries are raising the risk of a voluntary communications blackout in the event of a conflict, with potentially devastating effects on critical and highly digitalized sectors, such as transport, energy or health. On the Old Continent, several countries – such as the United Kingdom, France or Sweden – have already taken measures to ban or limit the influence of Chinese equipment manufacturers in 5G networks.
Just a year ago, the European Commission called on the 27 EU member states to take measures to exclude Huawei and ZTE from mobile networks. Thierry Breton, the French Commissioner for the Internal Market, has made no secret of his concern regarding the two manufacturers. We cannot afford to maintain dependencies that might become weapons once morest our interests.he said. It would be too great a risk to our common security.”. Last January, the European Parliament also sounded the alarm. The institution had asked the committee to “propose additional security standards for Chinese 5G network providers”.
Fear of retaliatory measures
It took Berlin more than five years to decide the fate of Huawei and ZTE on its territory. The German government has procrastinated a lot, torn between security considerations and the preservation of its economic interests, since China remains its main trading partner. Berlin has long feared that a boycott of Huawei and ZTE would push Beijing to take economic retaliatory measures once morest it. China, in particular, has become the leading market for the powerful German automobile industry. Its manufacturers generate a third of their turnover and profits there… Beijing’s reaction is, in this electrical context, highly anticipated.
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