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Australia Bans Huawei, ZTE From Supplying Technology For Its 5G Network (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Australia has blocked Huawei and ZTE from providing equipment for its 5G network, which is set to launch commercially next year. In a tweet, Huawei stated that the Australian government told the company that both it and ZTE are banned from supplying 5G technology to the country, despite Huawei's assurances that it does not pose a threat to national security. Earlier today, the Australian government issued new security guidelines for 5G carriers. Although it did not mention Huawei, ZTE or China specifically, it did strongly hint at them by stating "the Government considers that the involvement of vendors who are likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from foreign government that conflict with Australian law, may risk failure by the carrier to adequately protect a 5G network from unauthorized access or interference." In its new security guidelines, the Australian government stated that differences in the way 5G operates compared to previous network generations introduces new risks to national security. In particular, it noted the diminishing distinctions between the core network, where more sensitive functions like access control and data routing occur, and the edge, or radios that connect customer equipment, like laptops and mobile phones, to the core. Huawei Australia said in a statement: "We have been informed by the Govt that Huawei & ZTE have been banned from providing 5G technology to Australia. This is a extremely disappointing result for consumers. Huawei is a world leader in 5G. Has safely & securely delivered wireless technology in Aust for close to 15 yrs."
The problem is that the laws in China are such that at any time China could order Huawei or ZTE to use their installed gear to provide backdoors into western telecommunications networks. And if they say no all their top people will end up in the Chinese version of Federal Pound me in the A** Prison (which probably makes the US version look like a 5 star hotel) or in front of a firing squad.
The western governments don't want to allow gear into their networks that could be opened up to the Chinese government and their version of the NSA at any time because (for reasons I cant understand) they think the Chinese care about what us Aussies are doing on our phones (anyone sending anything classified, sensitive, commercially valuable or otherwise worth stealing is going to be encrypting it or not using public 5G networks at all so I dont get what the Chinese are supposedly going to be able to steal if they have these backdoors)
If I remember 2017 numbers right on mobile infrastructure market, Huawei was the biggest with just below 30% of global market, with Ericsson right on its heels, followed by Nokia that had slightly below 25% and ZTE at below 15%. And Huawei's market share was growin while Ericsson's and Nokia's were shrinking.
This is going to be another big win for Ericsson and Nokia it seems, following the similar trend in US recently.