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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.
Seriously, this is less disruptive than having backdoors in it. Far far better for Europe to buy European 5G.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I don't know if Huawei can be trusted.
I do know that anyone mistrusting Huawei that still trusts Cisco is naive.
I don't know if this warning will get to anyone in time, or if it will be heeded.
I do know this post will be aggressively attacked by sock puppet moderation and astro-turfing trolls.
Like seriously? Does it? Do you need that much faster speed(that you're probably not going to get) and limited bandwidth(10GB per month for $100?! sign me in!), on your mobile phone?
I'd argue most people just use their data to access their social media or other crap instead of doing anything productive with that mobile bandwidth and anyone smart enough use wifi anyway. So they can afford to wait 2 extra years, let more phones be released that are compatible with it first.
Everyone is so concerned! I mean literally hundreds of millions of people cannot live without 5G Internet. Oh, wait, most find 3G quite sufficient for their needs. It's not like you need to watch high bitrate HDR 4K movies on your cell phone or send gigabytes of data daily. // b.
If they suspect Huwaii isn't secure, then it's irrelevant how many years it sets them back.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
China is not a country where citizens can enjoy freedom of expression, freedom of religion, political freedoms, etc. The Uighurs are actively suppressed and a million of them are held in concentration camps. There is good reason as why equipment from China should not be trusted. Of course, there is not much reason to trust critical and infrastructure equipment from any non-free country with nuclear weapons. But I mistrust U.S.-made equipment less than what comes out of the People's Republic, or Russia. I would certainly trust EU-made stuff more. Except censorship-inducing Articles 11 and 13 of the proposed update to the EU Copyright Directive, pushed by MEP Axel Voss.