Controversial 5G technology from China
Vodafone fears problems with antenna replacement
08/03/2023, 10:35 am
The EU has long been demanding that network operators do without Chinese mobile communications technology. However, Vodafone is concerned. If the technology from the Far East is abandoned too quickly, the company expects long-term impairments to the networks.
The EU Commission is urging network operators and member states to forego mobile communications technology “Made in China”. The provider Vodafone is now pointing out possible consequences if the exchange of the antennas should be broken over the knee. A quick waiver of mobile phone technology from Chinese providers will therefore noticeably affect the stability and transmission quality in the German mobile phone networks.
An internal study by the company has shown that in countries where there has been an unplanned, very rapid exclusion of individual technology providers, there have been significant quality losses in the mobile networks, the company explained in Düsseldorf.
In the conflict over the use of mobile communications technology from Chinese providers such as Huawei or ZTE, the European Commission called on the EU countries in June to better protect their 5G mobile communications networks against providers they considered to be risky. The EU has managed to reduce dependencies in other sectors such as the energy sector in record time, said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton. “With 5G it should be no different: we cannot afford to maintain critical dependencies that could become a ‘weapon’ against our interests.” Breton called on all EU states and telecom operators to take the necessary measures “immediately”.
Vodafone fears long-term consequences
Vodafone now pointed out that the consequences of giving up too quickly would not only be felt in the short term, but also after a long time. “The network quality can still be negatively affected for up to a year after replacing the antennas,” said the mobile operator. In countries that changed quickly and unplanned, there were significantly more dropped calls. Furthermore, it has been shown that the expansion of the 5th generation (5G) mobile radio networks has slowed down considerably in most of these countries.
The head of technology at Vodafone Germany, Tanja Richter, said Germany needs secure and powerful networks. “We have to talk about technical possibilities, how we can make both possible in the future – and learn from the experiences in other countries.”
In this context, Richter referred to an evaluation of statistics by the European Commission in the so-called 5G Observatory report: There, in terms of 5G population coverage, those five countries ended up in the last places in the ranking, which the Chinese equipment suppliers Huawei and ZTE early on as 5G Excluded or severely restricted suppliers of their national mobile network operators: Estonia, Latvia, Belgium, Romania and Sweden.
The US in particular accuses Huawei and ZTE of close ties to the Chinese government and has imposed sanctions on the companies. Huawei and ZTE reject the allegations.