The president of BNetzA made the statement in an interview with the Financial Times.
Background: In recent months, US authorities have made efforts to persuade other countries to exclude Chinese vendors, and Huawei in particular, from the buildout of 5G networks, due to alleged security concerns. So far, European countries have taken mixed approaches, although no formal ban has been issued. In particular, German regulators have proposed a new set of security requirements for telecoms vendors, which are currently under consultation.
No ban for Huawei in Germany: The rules proposed by the Federal Network Agency, BNetzA, were already an indication that no vendor would be explicitly excluded in the country, providing they would meet the requirements. Today, the president of BNetzA, Jochen Homann, was more explicit in an interview with the Financial Times: “The position the Bundesnetzagentur takes is that no equipment supplier, including Huawei, should, or may, be specifically excluded.” Homann added that neither BNetzA, nor other German bodies, have seen any evidence to back up the concerns of the US.
The impact on 5G deployment: Homann acknowledges that operators all work with Huawei technology, and that Huawei holds a large number of patents. “If Huawei were excluded from the market, this would delay the roll-out of the digital networks”. A noteworthy remark, at a time when operators are involved in a 5G spectrum auction which is proving very costly: after 199 rounds, the provisional total exceeds €5.3bn.
