The German government intends to finalize the decision on the use of critical components in 5G mobile networks shortly.

The news agency Reuters learned this from government circles on Thursday. Following a meeting between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the ministers involved, it was reported that discussions within the coalition government were progressing. "A decision has been made on how to proceed." It remains the case that the government is acting on the basis of the National Security Strategy and the China Strategy in order to reduce potential security risks and dependencies. The departments involved (Home Affairs, Digital, Foreign Affairs and Economic Affairs) did not wish to comment further on request, citing the agreed confidentiality.

For months, the traffic light government has been postponing a decision on whether to impose stricter requirements on telecoms companies for the use of Chinese components, for example. The main issue between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Digital Affairs is whether these companies should spend more money on the rapid expansion and stability of the modern 5G network or rather replace components from existing networks that are considered potentially unsafe by security authorities. This primarily concerns components from the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE.

A key question here is how much transition time companies would be granted for the potentially necessary expansion of such components from the 5G and 4G networks. Companies such as Deutsche Telekom have stated that they do not use Huawei or ZTE products in the 5G core network anyway: The main issue now is whether there should also be stricter security requirements in the antenna network due to the technical development.

(Report by Andreas Rinke; edited by Ralf Bode. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)