Huawei facing more strife in Europe after report Germany is considering a ban on Chinese gear in its 5G networks

Telecommunications gear giant Huawei Technologies is facing growing trouble in Europe, with Germany becoming the latest country to consider a ban on Chinese manufacturers in its 5G networks.

Germany’s Interior Ministry has proposed measures that would force local telecoms operators to remove critical components from Chinese suppliers from their networks, including Huawei and ZTE Corporation by 2026, according to a report by Reuters last week that cited a government official familiar with the discussions.

If the proposal is agreed, it would represent a major shift by Germany, which rejected pressure from the US four years ago to ban Huawei. Several other countries in the region, including the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have already banned Huawei from their 5G networks.

In a radio interview with German broadcaster ARD earlier this month, Carsten Senz, vice-president of corporate communications at Huawei Germany, said that German consumers have been using the company’s technology for many years without encountering any security problems.

“Like all the other equipment providers or suppliers, Huawei has no remote access at all to the data in mobile networks … Only the network operators have that. In other words, the networks are under the complete control of the German network operators,” Senz said in the interview.

In a statement to the South China Morning Post, Huawei said it “opposes pure politicisation of cybersecurity assessment” and warned that a ban would result in higher costs for Germany’s telecoms operators as well as consumers.