(CNBC)
Europe and the U.S. are clashing over Huawei’s role in the future of 5G.
While Donald Trump’s administration has tried to pressure allied countries, including those in Europe, to ban the Chinese firm from being included in the rollout of the next generation of mobile networking technologies, nations including the U.K. and Germany aren’t listening.
Germany’s 5G spectrum auction began on Tuesday — a process in which carriers bid for certain radio frequencies in order to provide the new version of high-speed mobile internet.
The U.S. alleges that Huawei’s networking equipment could be used for espionage by the Chinese government. Huawei has repeatedly denied that it poses any risk and said it would never allow Beijing to get its hands on customer data. Experts are skeptical, however, about Huawei’s assurances because Chinese national security laws appear to compel companies operating in the country to comply with all government requests for such info. Read more