Huawei wins deal to help build German 5G network

Bloomberg

China’s Huawei Technologies Co just got a seal of approval from one of Germany’s biggest telecom companies.
Telefonica SA’s German unit, which operates the country’s second-largest wireless network, picked Huawei and Finland’s Nokia Oyj to take an equal role supplying its fifth-generation mobile phone network upgrade, the company said in a statement Wednesday. The deal is subject to the firms getting certified by German authorities, it said.
The announcement is a boon to Huawei after Deutsche Telekom AG said recently it has stopped ordering new 5G equipment because of political uncertainty over Chinese
suppliers. Huawei has repeatedly denied allegations its equipment could be used for
espionage.
There’s one caveat, though. The German government is currently drawing up security guidelines for the country’s 5G network expansion, in a move that’s expected to require certification of equipment, including antennas.
Hawks in the intelligence community would like to tighten the rules in a way that would block Huawei. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said in the past she doesn’t want to bar the Chinese firm as long as it abides by certain security standards. It isn’t yet clear what requirements will ultimately be put in place, so it may be too early for Huawei to declare victory in Germany.

Less Sensitive
The deal with both firms to supply the less-sensitive radio access network “will be subject to the successful safety certification of the technology and the companies,” Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG said in the statement. The company “is taking into account the ongoing political process of establishing these security guidelines without delaying the start of the 5G expansion.”
Telefonica Deutschland hasn’t yet selected a supplier to upgrade the more-sensitive core network — the ‘brain’ that houses control functions — and won’t do so until next year, Chief Executive Officer Markus Haas said on a call with reporters.
The company’s shares fell 2.1% at 11:24 am in Frankfurt. Its strategy update, presented to investors in London, indicated it would cut its 2019 dividend to 17 euro cents a share from 27 euro cents.
Telefonica Deutschland is targeting sales growth of at least 5% through 2022 and is seeking to improve its profit margin during that period. The company is confident it can win more customers in rural areas and add fixed-line clients as well as corporate customers that install 5G in their factories, Haas said on the call.

Huawei executive wins fight to access extradition documents
Bloomberg

Huawei Technologies Co Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Meng Wanzhou will get access to documents detailing the circumstances of her arrest in Canada at the request of the US, where she is sought on wire fraud and conspiracy charges.
Meng claims she needs the documents to show there was an abuse of process in her fight against extradition.
Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the Supreme Court of British Columbia ordered the Canadian government, police and border agency to provide Meng’s defense with records about the planning and execution of her arrest at Vancouver’s airport on December 1, 2018.
Her defense alleges that the Canada Border Services Agency, police and FBI unlawfully used the pretext of an immigration check to get Meng to disclose evidence that could be used against her.
In the ruling, Holmes said the order “does not predict or imply that Ms. Meng’s claim of abuse of process will ultimately succeed.” She said it’s also not yet clear whether the alleged abuse of process, if proven, would be serious enough to require a stay of proceedings.
Such a stay is only granted “in the rarest of cases,” she said. “However, I cannot rule out the possibility that it would.”
The ruling also supported some arguments from Meng’s defense that there have been notable gaps in the evidence provided so far.
“I view the evidence tendered by the Attorney General to address those gaps as strategic in its character yet impoverished in its substance,” the judge said, noting that Canada has left “largely unexplained” why border officials turned over Meng’s passwords to the police, contrary to law, and when and how the mistake came to light.
Meng’s defense has inferred that Canadian police sent details about Meng’s devices to the FBI. The prosecution has been “similarly incomplete” in rebutting those inferences, Holmes wrote.
“This specific and notable feature of the evidence, considered in light of the body of evidence as a whole, raises questions beyond the frivolous or speculative about the chain of events,” the judge said.
Meng’s Road Map: Key Dates in the Huawei CFO’s Extradition Case For Meng, the victory is the first step in what’s likely to be a long battle with the odds stacked against her. Of the 798 U.S. extradition requests received since 2008, Canada has only refused or discharged eight, according to Canada’s Department of Justice.