Huawei Technologies Co. has won a bid from one of Germany’s biggest telecom companies to help build the country’s fifth-generation (5G) network.

　　Telefonica Deutschland, Telefonica SA’s German unit that operates Germany’s second-largest wireless network, picked Huawei and Finland’s Nokia Oyj to take an equal role supplying its 5G mobile phone network upgrade, the firm said Dec. 11. 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 last week it has stopped ordering new 5G equipment because of political uncertainty over Chinese suppliers.

　　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.

　　Hawks in the intelligence community in Germany 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.

　　“We hope that this window of uncertainty will be as short as possible — we don’t yet have certification for any of our vendors,” Telefonica Deutschland CEO Markus Haas said.

　　Telefonica Deutschland is one of few European operators to have named Huawei as a 5G vendor, following first-mover Sunrise of Switzerland, whose Huawei-built 5G network went live earlier this year.

　　Germany’s other two mobile operators — Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone — are existing customers of Huawei but have yet to publicly confirm whether they will stick with Huawei networks leader for 5G.