A Huawei executive has challenged recent reports suggesting the company will be barred from participating in Australia’s 5G network rollout.
Reports in the Australian Financial Review, citing senior government sources, claimed Huawei is “all but certain to be excluded from providing equipment” for Australia’s 5G infrastructure, and said national security and defence agencies are strongly opposed to the company’s involvement.
Earlier coverage from industry outlets noted growing political pressure on Huawei after Labor MP Michael Danby urged a ban on purchasing 5G equipment from Chinese firms on national security grounds.
Danby warned that “Huawei and ZTE must report to a communist party cell at the top of their organisations” and urged parliament, the media and the Australian public to resist allowing those firms to supply Australia’s 5G network.
Former communications minister and current prime minister Malcolm Turnbull previously prevented Huawei from bidding on parts of the National Broadband Network (NBN) while serving as communications minister, and Danby called on him to take comparable action regarding 5G procurement.
John Lord, chairman of Huawei Australia, told ABC Radio the company had not been informed it would be excluded and disputed the accuracy of reports suggesting a lockout.
Lord expressed optimism about Huawei’s prospects and said the company was engaged in an open, two-way dialogue with government bodies. He added that Huawei executives were being received in Canberra and that discussions were continuing.
“As late as last night I was briefed that our senior team had been down talking to the Critical Infrastructure Centre only yesterday, discussing cybersecurity and 5G,” Lord told ABC Radio.
Security concerns about Huawei are not limited to Australia. In the United States, lawmakers have debated legislation to restrict Chinese technology companies from operating in critical networks, and Republican Senator Marco Rubio indicated such measures could attract broad congressional support.
In the United Kingdom, the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre was established with Huawei’s cooperation to allow intelligence and security agencies to assess the company’s equipment before it is used in sensitive infrastructure.
In a 2012 speech, John Lord proposed the idea of a similar independent evaluation centre in Australia, arguing that in a globalised world no country can or should try to sustain an isolated telecommunications industry. He urged nations to adopt security assurance frameworks to rigorously analyse globally sourced technology products.
“Countries like the UK have already taken this vital step, and others must follow,” he said, emphasizing the need for transparent security assessment mechanisms.
(Image Credit: John Lord AM, Huawei by Asia Society, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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