Over the last months, there is growing tension in the telecom world, ever since the US and other western countries, have raised concerns regarding Huawei 5G and security issues.
Several countries and operators started releasing statements on a possible ban on Huawei from their upcoming 5G network deployment. Australia where one of the first countries last summer, that announced a block to Huawei from their 5G roll-out over concerns on national security. UK’s giants British Telecom (BT) followed by announcing their intention to block Huawei from the development of their 5G core network.
However, the tension was raised even higher, when last December, Canadian authorities proceeded to arrest Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou. Huawei’s CFO also happens to be the daughter of the company’s founder, Ren Zhengfei. The official statement was that Huawei continued to commerce with Iran, thus ignoring and violating the international sanctions imposed on the country.
5G technology
5G is an emerging technology which aims to revolutionize the telecom world and influence our lives. 5G is expected to provide 100 times higher data rates than the existing networks.
Taking advantage of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), ultra-high capacity and ultra-low latency techniques, 5G will be able to provide broadband connectivity and the introduction of new critical services like autonomous driving and remote e-health services.
5G and Huawei
Huawei, as a major telecommunications vendor, is expected to play a vital role in the upcoming 5G roll-out activities and deployment of 5G networks. With equipment ranging from 5G RAN to 5G Core, Huawei will be able to offer a complete portfolio of 5G mobile radio technology solutions.
Taking into account that the Chinese economies of scale can sustain competitive pricing, all of the above will lead to an increase of the Chinese giants in their influence on the telecommunications world.
Huawei accusations
In a 5G world, where millions of devices will be connected, whoever manages the data flow will be able to control the dispersion of information.
The West is accusing Huawei of a direct link to the Chinese government and a possible security threat on their networks. Taking into advantage their high penetration on 5G network infrastructure, Huawei could be able to get their hands on valuable information.
In other words, with the expected 5G mass connectivity and deployment, Huawei could use their equipment infrastructure to conduct espionage and spy in favor of China.
Huawei’s current deployments and possible 5G sanctions
Huawei, although not having a strong presence in the US, has a large footprint in Europe and other parts of the world. Consequently, “getting rid” of Huawei equipment is not an easy task for many of the large European Mobile Operators.
Germany was one of the first countries to raise awareness on the fact that a possible swap of the existing Huawei infrastructure will most probably result to an unbearable cost to Mobile Operators which may affect the overall 5G development in the country.
The UK as well, instead of the initial intentions of a complete Huawei 5G ban, is now thinking of introducing some limits on Huawei 5G equipment instead. Furthermore, British intelligence is reported to have assessed that the Huawei security risk may, after all, deem manageable.
What happens next
All of the above may just be the peak of the iceberg of an ongoing commercial war, between the East and the West that extends from technology up to world trade and global market dominance.
It is therefore evident that we are in the middle of a game that still has a lot of twists until we reach the final outcome. For the time being, all we can do is remain calm, stay tuned and wait for the next episode of the Battle for Technology.
