Huawei and Germany: 5G relationship status is complicated

[nitpicker]

https://www.dw.com/en/huawei-and-germany-5g-relationship-status-is-complicated/a-47964044

Huawei and Germany: 5G relationship status is complicated

Date 19.03.2019
Author Arthur Sullivan

If you stroll into any major German electronics store, you'll quickly realize that the Chinese technology firm Huawei already has a pretty decent foothold in the market of Europe's biggest economy.

Huawei smartphones and notebooks are as visible as those of any other brand. According to the online statistics portal Statcounter, Huawei had a 14 percent share of the German mobile market at the end of February 2019, in third place behind Apple and Samsung. It's a share that's growing fast.

Yet Huawei's future in Germany has been the subject of speculation for months, due to the campaign waged by the US government against the Chinese company over concerns that the Chinese government will use the firm as a "backdoor" for spying and other forms of cyberespionage.
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Huawei is a world leader in the development of 5G internet infrastructure and equipment, and the likes of Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Vodafone already make extensive use of the firm's products.

On Tuesday, the long-awaited auction of spectrum licenses to build 5G networks in Germany began in the city of Mainz. Four companies — Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Telefonica (O2) and 1&1 Drillisch — are aiming to secure their respective slices of this long-sought-after, new-age internet pie.

Although the German government has already said it will not ban Huawei or any other company during the 5G process, its announcement of strict security requirements for the 5G auction has cast doubt over the extent to which network operators will ultimately be able to use Huawei equipment.

It remains to be seen to what extent a network provider's use of Huawei equipment will affect its chances in the auction.
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