Huawei lifts the German 5G ban despite a US campaign

The US government's long-standing campaign to remove and exclude Huawei devices from mobile networks is now formally unrequited in the largest economy in Europe. Germany has today refused to prohibit suppliers from participating in the design and construction of 5G mobile networks. Earlier this year, US government officials particularly strongly approached Huawei when it comes to its inclusion in the network operating in allied countries with the United States. Germany has been highlighted and informed that the US government will limit intelligence sharing with this country if Huawei could be part of German 5G infrastructure. Germany reacted in a predictable way to the perceived threat when American efforts came to impose its will on 5G security standards in sovereign countries. Indeed, the German operators Vodafone Germany and Deutsche Telekom have recently launched 5G networks in this country using Huawei devices, before German regulators have formalized new guidelines. U.S.-Huawei. Battle Rages "We are not making a pre-emptive decision to ban any actor or company," said Reuters spokesman for the German government, Steffan Seibert, during a press conference in Berlin. German operators, all of whom are now Huawei customers, have gathered around a beleaguered supplier and warned against the ban on its equipment, arguing that this would cause delays and increase the cost of implementing 5G networks. The US government views Chinese telecommunications service providers, especially Huawei and ZTE, as a threat to national security and is campaigning with many fronts to weaken suppliers' ability to compete for 5G contracts in the United States and other Western countries. President Donald Trump signed an ordinance that prohibits Huawei from purchasing US products, and the Commerce Department's continued efforts prompted many companies to suspend their cooperation with the supplier. Huawei is also embroiled in a legal battle with the US government, which undermines the constitutionality of banning its equipment in government networks. Huawei's founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei, recently presented the idea of ​​licensing the company's 5G technology, including patents to a company based in the West, but since its proposition, interest has been low. The German government's essentially unlimited security guidelines were not surprising, but highlight the difficulties encountered by US government officials in seeking to extend Huawei's ban to other countries. It seems that the angle of espionage cooperation between countries fell on deaf ears. New rules imposed by Germany also appear a few days after the European Union (EU) published a report stating that 5G networks are exposed to an increased risk of cyber attacks due to the increased use of software to control functions and components of the edge network to support more use cases. "As 5G networks are increasingly based on software, the risk of serious security flaws, such as those resulting from poor software development processes at suppliers, is increasing," says the report. "They can also help entities threatening to maliciously insert backdoors into products and make detection more difficult." Perceived threats are unfounded The authors of the report did not distinguish China as a specific threat, but identified the largest suppliers of the 5G market and possible geopolitical problems related to the headquarters of these suppliers. "Some of these providers are headquartered in the EU (Ericsson and Nokia), while others are based outside the EU. Their corporate governance shows significant differences, for example in terms of level of transparency and type of corporate ownership structure, "notes the report. The failure of the US government to limit Huawei's growth in Europe has gained in importance today thanks to the opening of the first European joint 5G innovation center of this provider. The company works with Sunrise, the second largest operator in Switzerland, to develop 5G application scenarios and expand the 5G ecosystem in Switzerland. "What we have presented today will show the huge potential of 5G applications in both the private and business sectors," said Sunrise CEO Olaf Swantee in a statement. "This center is very important for Huawei and for the industry," said Huawei Switzerland CEO Haitao Wang in a prepared statement. "The goal is to stimulate the 5G ecosystem in Switzerland by showing real 5G use cases to business clients and consumers, and to support external companies in developing and testing 5G-based applications. Thanks to this center, we can introduce innovations in 5G, one of the key technologies for the next decade. "