The German government is undertaking a security review into the 5G mobile networks provided by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE.
Germany has “not yet” followed the lead of countries like Australia, US, Japan, India, New Zealand, and Canada, who have banned Huawei and ZTE from their 5G rollout, according to The Ministry of the Interior.
A letter from the ministry says it is “possible that the components could impair public order and security in Germany.”
Three of the country’s major telcos, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and O2, have components from the Chinese companies installed in its networks.
None of these companies have yet been banned from using components from Chinese companies in their 5G networks.
“The main change is that these strict checks for potential security risks now also apply to the existing components in telecommunications networks,” a spokesperson from the ministry said.