Ban Huawei? Not Europe

[beijingwalker]

Ban Huawei? Not Europe​

January 12, 2023

Washington wants Europe to rip Chinese telecom vendors led by Huawei out of its networks, considering them a security threat. The pressure is failing.

Europe remains addicted to Chinese network equipment. In 31 European countries, my new study shows that Chinese vendors supply more than 50% of 5G equipment at the end of 2022. Large European countries–Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Austria, and Spain–continue to buy significant amounts of Chinese 5G kit.

Under President Donald Trump, the US lobbied Europe to ban Chinese telecom suppliers. The Biden Administration has kept up and even intensified the pressure.

European Commission leaders in Brussels are sympathetic. They have adopted common “5G security toolbox” guidelines to mitigate security risks in networks, according to several legislative texts. European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager says it is a “matter of urgency” to restrict “high-risk vendors.”

Yet many national capitals are not listening. Although European governments in the past two years have imposed security policies on the telecoms industry to cut down on Chinese equipment, a dangerous patchwork persists. While some countries have banned Huawei, others allow it to continue its operations.

Germany represents a particular worry. Nord Stream 2 was Germany’s debacle with oil energy supplies from Russia; Germany risks a similar scenario in communications with Huawei and ZTE. In 2022, 59% of the 5G RAN in Germany comes from Chinese vendors. Huawei enjoys a higher market share in Berlin than in Beijing where it shares the market with ZTE and other vendors. Germany’s largest operator Deutsche Telekom maintains a strategic

Germany accounts for 25% of European mobile customers. Together with Italy, Poland, and Austria, comprise 50% of European mobile customers. These countries are dependent on Chinese equipment, creating a risk for their own nations and others that use their networks. In one country, Cyprus, 100% of the 5G RAN is Chinese.

The United Kingdom has taken strong steps, effectively banning Huawei from new contracts. Yet 41% of its installed 5G networks is Chinese made and London recently extended the deadline to remove equipment and services from China's Huawei in core network functions to the end of 2023. The deadline to remove all Huawei gear from Britain's 5G networks is the end of 2027.

Of the major European countries, France has been the most aggressive. Chinese parts in its 5G network stood at a low 11% at the end of last year, less than half the level of Chinese penetration of its 4G network. While France will not ban Huawei, Paris has put safeguards in place for critical parts of its telecoms networks.

Other progress is visible. While 51% of European mobile subscribers had access to 4G RAN from Chinese vendors, the figure has fallen to 41% of the 5G mobile subscribers. And while 16 of 31 European countries bought more than half of 4G RAN equipment from Chinese vendors, only eight European countries count more than 50% of the Chinese 5G RAN equipment.

Ban Huawei? Not Europe

The US wants Europe to rip Chinese telecoms like Huawei out of its networks, considering them a security threat. The pressure is failing.

cepa.org

 

[beijingwalker]

Germany ups reliance on Huawei for 5G despite security fears​

Reuters
December 17, 2022 6:27 AM

Huawei accounts for 59% of Germany’s 5G radio access network compared to 57% in 4G networks. (AP pic)

BERLIN: Germany has become even more dependent on Huawei for its 5G radio access network equipment (RAN) than in its 4G network despite growing worries about Chinese involvement in critical infrastructure, according to a new report.

Many European countries have banned Chinese companies from all or part of their 5G networks on security grounds, amid intense diplomatic pressure from the US.

But Huawei accounts for 59% of Germany’s 5G RAN – the base stations and related infrastructure that connect smartphones to the network – compared to 57% in 4G networks, according to the survey by telecommunications consultancy Strand Consult.

The survey, to be released next week but seen by Reuters, provides an overview of the roles of China’s Huawei and ZTE in the roll-out of next-generation mobile networks across Europe, singling out the region’s largest economy for its continued reliance on its top trade partner.

“There are indications that Germany has not taken the security threat that China poses seriously,” the study says, drawing comparisons to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, long criticised by opponents as a security risk but which Berlin justified by saying Russia would not weaponise energy.

Huawei has repeatedly denied its equipment poses a security risk and accuses Washington of a protectionist desire to help US firms that cannot compete with its technology and pricing.

Huawei did not immediately reply to request for comment for this story.

Germany, home to operators like Deutsche Telekom and O2, passed an IT security law two years ago setting high hurdles for makers of telecommunications equipment for the “critical components” of 5G networks.


Critics note requirements are toughest for the core network, where sensitive data is processed, but say that is so enmeshed with RAN infrastructure that both can pose security risks.

The German network agency referred Reuters to regulation that shows differentiated treatment for core and RAN components. The information security office did not reply to a request for comment on whether the high share of Chinese components could pose a security threat.

Jens Zimmermann, a lawmaker for the Social Democrats (SPD), the senior coalition party in the German government, accused telecoms operators of sticking to the minimum requirements of the new law rather than its spirit.

“If this attitude continues, we will need to tighten the legal framework,” the SPD spokesperson for digital policy said.

Germany could tighten requirements

The Strand report shows that while Germany is not alone in increasing its use of Chinese-made RAN gear in its 5G network, many small European countries, especially the Nordics and eastern states like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, do not use any.

In some of those countries, author John Strand told Reuters, operators themselves had chosen non-Chinese vendors to keep wary corporate customers happy.

The report noted, however, that Huawei has a higher market share in Berlin than in Beijing, where it faces tough competition from domestic rival ZTE.

A strategy paper by Germany’s Greens-run economy ministry has recommended increased scrutiny of components from authoritarian states in critical infrastructure.

“We need a general revision of commercial cooperation with companies from autocratic states,” said Greens lawmaker Konstantin von Notz, chairman of the parliamentary committee that oversees the intelligence services.

A more pro-active approach was needed, he said, to ensure Germany’s sovereignty “in the face of states like Russia and China”.

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/c...ance-on-huawei-for-5g-despite-security-fears/

 

[Beast]

Huawei is a security threat and yet US federal approve Qualcomm to supply Huawei smartphone chips sale.

More or less shows its nothing to do with security threat but more with competition to telecommunication commercial infrastructure and smartphone threat.