The logo of China's tech giant Huawei. Photo: Xinhua

 Telefonica Deutschland, a unit of Spain's Telefonica, chose China's Huawei to build its 5G network in Germany, which experts said is a rational choice based on Germany's demand of keeping an edge in the coming 5G era. More companies in the Europe are expected to follow suit instead of caving to the US' bullying actions, industry analysts said.

"Telefonica disclosing its cooperation with Huawei at such a critical moment indicates the German government has nodded to deploy Huawei 5G networks in the country," Xiang Ligang, an expert on the telecommunications industry, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The decision by the company comes amid a heated debate in Germany and also in Europe over whether to include Huawei in the continent's critical network infrastructure amid US fear-mongering. Germany has yet to finalize security rules governing equipment suppliers.

For European countries, to choose Huawei or not has become more of a choice between "the market or caving in to US pressure, which is ridiculous and will tear them apart especially at the critical time of developing the next-generation technology," an industry insider surnamed Jiang told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Jiang noted that the diverging views in the German market are also a result of German carriers' interests in the US telecom market, noting that the US is now forcing them to face a tough question of whether to choose Huawei or the US market.

 "The national dignity of Germany doesn't allow the country to blindly follow the US government dictation," Xiang said. 

 "More carriers are set to follow Telefonica," Jiang Junmu, chief writer at telecom industry news website c114.com.cn, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Germany's other two mobile operators - market leader Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone - have yet to publicly confirm whether they will stick with Huawei for 5G.

Although Germany's attitude toward Huawei 5G networks is ambiguous, the European country definitely wants to use Huawei, Xiang said, noting that without Huawei, which has an absolute advantage in both quality and price, the cost and time of rolling out of 5G networks in Germany.