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Vodafone CEO Says Banning Huawei Could Set Europe's 5G Rollout Back Another Two Years (cnbc.com)
The CEO of Vodafone, the world's second-largest mobile operator, warned excluding Huawei from Europe's 5G networks could be "hugely disruptive" to national infrastructure and consumers. CEO Nick Read said that it would be "very very expensive" for operators and consumers if companies were forced to swap their Huawei equipment in favor of competitors', adding it would delay Europe's 5G rollout by "probably two years." CNBC reports: Speaking at a press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Monday, Vodafone CEO Nick Read said banning Huawei from providing 5G infrastructure in Europe would hamper competition in the supply chain. China's Huawei, Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson are the three biggest providers of telecommunications equipment in the world, accounting for more than half of revenues in the market, according to research firm Dell'Oro Group. "If we concentrate it down to two players I think that's an unhealthy position not just for us as an industry but also for national infrastructure in the country," Read said.
"It structurally disadvantages Europe," he said "Of course the U.S. don't have that problem because they don't put Huawei equipment in." Vodafone's Read said governments need to take a "fact-based" approach to assessing security concerns with Huawei, adding he will not be meeting with any U.S. officials in Barcelona this week. "I would at this stage prefer to be working with governments and securities on a national basis and making sure we have a fact-based conversation," he said. Vodafone's Read said there is "high competition" among the three equipment providers but added Huawei has had "leading technology." In a roundtable with media on Sunday in Barcelona, Huawei's rotating chairman Guo Ping claimed the company is 12 months ahead of its competitors when it comes to 5G technology. Huawei has been left out of the U.S. market with officials citing security concerns that its technology could enable spying from the Chinese government, accusations Huawei denies. The U.S., the UK and Germany are weighing possible bans on Huawei's 5G equipment citing security risks.
"It structurally disadvantages Europe," he said "Of course the U.S. don't have that problem because they don't put Huawei equipment in." Vodafone's Read said governments need to take a "fact-based" approach to assessing security concerns with Huawei, adding he will not be meeting with any U.S. officials in Barcelona this week. "I would at this stage prefer to be working with governments and securities on a national basis and making sure we have a fact-based conversation," he said. Vodafone's Read said there is "high competition" among the three equipment providers but added Huawei has had "leading technology." In a roundtable with media on Sunday in Barcelona, Huawei's rotating chairman Guo Ping claimed the company is 12 months ahead of its competitors when it comes to 5G technology. Huawei has been left out of the U.S. market with officials citing security concerns that its technology could enable spying from the Chinese government, accusations Huawei denies. The U.S., the UK and Germany are weighing possible bans on Huawei's 5G equipment citing security risks.
To hold to that, they should also have banned the by for more problematic gear, made in USA, even worse than made it China, a whole lot worse.
There is nothing wrong with demanding that equipment in essential digital infrastructure all be locally made but that is the way it should be done and not upon the basis of banning countries. This, especially when you ban a country with little or not proof and allow a country with lots of public proof of actively hacking even it's allies networks. US allies can not trust US equipment, why should anyone else.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Wait... maybe you dont understand that Huawei is a state-supported telco from China?
China is one of the top sources of hacking against western commercial software/hardware companies. Russia (Former Soviet Union) and North Korea are up there somewhere. They are leading the charge for stealing intellectual property from western nations because it is significantly cheaper to steal than to manufacture.
https://www.cyberscoop.com/ministry-of-state-security-china-hacking-department-of-justice-indictment/
Who in their right mind thinks that Cisco's profits are based on hacking? They rely on ignorance of competing products and dominance for defense contracts. Have you hear the phrase "nobody got fired for picking Cisco"? You probably have.
Have you noticed there is no similar fanfare for Juniper/Nortel (RIP)/Alcatel (RIP)/HP (wait.. HP makes networking gear?)... well you get the point.
The major difference is that Cisco, with all their flaws and Juniper with theirs... have no need to embed data theft into their product at least for western nations. Having said that I can't speak for other three-letter agencies.
Huawei does as they are just a branch of the Chinese government in the guise of a corporation.
https://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2019/chinese-hackers-telecom-cyberattacks/
Peace out.
But they're not being harmed by inadequate equipment, they're being harmed by ridiculous pricing. That's NOT going to be fixed by 5G deployment any more than it was fixed by 4G deployment.
Ezekiel 23:20
Could you please provide any reference of actual proof? I still haven't seen any, only broad claims.
We have had so many proofs of spying from US infrastructure companies, I believe hat the first assumption is that you can't trust the infrastructure, wherever it comes from. The communication protocols should take tat into account and encrypt everything with strong end to end crypto. The downside being that spying would then be made more difficult for our 'allies'.
Consider Sweden and Finland. Look at what Poland is considering. What Taiwan the real China is doing.
Stop supporting Communist China.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"