The German government said it has existing mechanism to ensure security
Germany’s government is not considering a ban on foreign vendors supplying 5G equipment, as existing law is sufficient to ensure security, the country’s interior minister said in response to a question in Parliament from opposition lawmakers.
According to local paper Handelsblatt, the government prefers to use its existing control mechanisms, as provided for under its Telecommunications Law, in order to address any individual security concerns, rather than implement a general ban of certain suppliers.
However, Nadine Schön, vice-chairwoman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, said that some lawmakers are worried, because mobile carriers in Germany rely predominantly on Chinese vendor Huawei for its new 5G technology.
The country’s largest telecom operator, Deutsche Telekom is working with a number of vendors, including Huawei, for the development of its 5G network.
“We’re taking a pragmatic approach to the situation,” said Arne Schönbohm, head of the federal office for IT security BSI. “We’re looking at whether companies are able to fulfill the IT security requirements,” Schönbohm added.
In August, Australian authorities announced a decision to prevent certain vendors from taking part in the rollout of 5G mobile networks across the country, effectively banning Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from involvement. Huawei said the decision by the Australian government to block the company from the country’s domestic 5G market is politically motivated and not the result of a fact-based decision-making process.
Also in August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which includes new regulations that ban government agencies doing business with Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE. The bill prohibits the U.S. government and its contractors from buying certain telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese communications companies.
According to international press reports, the Japanese government is also studying the possibility to exclude certain vendors in the provision of 5G equipment for local carriers.
This week, two U.S. senators sent a letter to Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging him to bar Chinese vendor Huawei from Canada’s 5G mobile network over security allegations. The lawmakers said that allowing the Chinese vendor to take part in the deployment of Canada’s 5G networks could affect the sharing of sensitive and confidential information between the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which constitute the Five Eyes alliance.
However, Prime Minister Trudeau said that he does not want politics to interfere in the decision to select vendors for the deployment of 5G networks in Canada, the Globe and Mail reported. Trudeau also said that he trusts the ability of Canada’s spy agencies to mitigate any potential security risks.
