According to Reuters, Deutsche Telekom is not wavering in its approach to purchasing telecom equipment, continuing to a favor a multi-vendor approach.
This is in direct contradiction to a report in magazine Wirtschaftswoche, whereby the publication claimed that Deutsche Telekom would be gradually phasing out equipment made by Huawei. While the company refused to directly comment on the Wirtschaftswoche article, a spokesman did say in an email to Reuters that “fundamentally, we are pursuing a multi-vendor strategy and source network components from several vendors. Security comes first.”
Germany has proven to be a hotly contested battleground for Huawei, as the U.S. has increasingly put pressure on the German government to ban the telecom equipment provider. Even members of Merkel’s own party have joined the calls for ban. Merkel herself, however, has ruled out a ban, believing security can be achieved without singling out any one vendor.
Deutsche Telekom’s decision is another win for Huawei as it struggles to maintain its dominance in the 5G arena.
