Germany is considering implementing a ban on Huawei and ZTE 5G equipment. NetworkWorld reported that if the boycott goes through, Germany will have matched initiatives with other European countries regarding the Chinese-made equipment.
Sweden, Norway, and the U.K. have already put bans in place, and so has the U.S., citing national security risks. Even with bans in some countries, Huawei still has a foothold within Europe. According to NetworkWorld, some countries use Huawei 5G equipment exclusively (Cyprus), and others are on the other end of the spectrum, going as low as a 17 percent usage case in France. Other countries like Italy, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Austria, Switzerland, and Finland also have “substantial portions” of their 5G networks operating on Huawei equipment, per a report published in Bandwidth.
In 2019, the European Commission issued a report detailing the dangers of interference by state actors in 5G networks, inferencing Chinese government-backed suppliers. NetworkWorld reported that the U.S. leadership change might have also impacted the tech considerations.
If national security is on the line, why are some governments making changes while others embrace the status quo? Bruce Schneier, a cybersecurity expert and faculty member at Harvard, said it comes down to dollars [or euros]. NetworkWold reported that not all countries have the budget for “Rip & Replace” initiatives.
“It’s all fun and games until the domestic part costs three times as much,” he said. “Security is not going to trump price, and it has to — if you want security, it costs, and there’s no way around it. As long as labor laws are what they are, domestic alternatives are going to cost more.”
Schneier added that the actual concern is using compromised networking equipment in the event of a war. He says that geopolitics, rather than technology, is at the heart of the conflict. “The worry is that they can shut everything down, so if China invades Taiwan, they can degrade those networks,” he explained. “That’s the real risk, and you can do that undetectably.”
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