German govt plans to tighten security rules on telecoms equipment suppliers

Berlin plans to tighten the law on security standards that must be met by telecoms operators bidding to participate in the roll-out of next generation 5G telephony networks in Germany, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Friday. “We will improve and strengthen our national law regarding security requirements for secure communications,” Altmaier told Reuters at the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. “All suppliers to German telecoms service providers will have to meet these requirements,” he said. Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that Germany needed guarantees that China’s Huawei Technologies would not hand over data to Beijing before the telecoms equipment supplier can participate in building its 5G network.