- The core network will have “the highest” security. But for the periphery (“Zugangsnetz”) it states that security standards “should not endanger an immediate shift to 5G” (ie no rip and replace) /1
- By 2025 non-European suppliers should have no more than 30 percent of the peripheral network (ie Huawei share would decline but it would still be present 5 years from now) /2
- It states that if a supplier violates the security criteria there will be “significant sanctions” including the withdrawal of its security certificate (tacit acknowledgement of post-facto - not preemptive - sanctions) /3
What happens from here? SPD & Greens groups in parliament expected to approve tougher wording later today. FDP & AfD also on board. Debate in Bundestag on Friday afternoon. But my interpretation: unless SPD prepared to make this a make-or-break coalition issue, #Huawei is in /4
This could pave way for other EU countries to do the same - keeping #Huawei out of the core but giving them a part of the periphery, with their share of that declining over time, and option to phase them out completely longer-term. But far from a ban. Merkel-Altmaier win day /5
Still - if the German 5G saga has taught us anything, it’s that it’s not over til it’s over /End
