Huawei hasn't given up on Australia as it plugs 6G smarts

Even though Australia blindly followed the US down the Huawei-accusation rabbit hole, the Chinese vendor hasn’t given up on the country, using the 6G carrot to tempt the Aussies back into the fray.

Speaking at the Emerging Innovation Summit in Melbourne, a Huawei executive suggested Australian decision-makers have been short-sighted in addressing cyber-security concerns.

“The current approach being taken towards cyber-security on 5G mobile networks solves absolutely nothing – and that will be exposed further in 6G,” said Huawei Australia Chief Technology and Cyber Security Officer David Soldani.

This is of course assuming Huawei is an innocent party, though as little (if any) concrete evidence to prove guilt has been presented to date, the fair position would be to maintain this assumption of innocence.

“Blocking companies from certain countries does nothing to make Australia any safer from cyber-security issues – in fact it just makes things worse because they are not addressing the real issues on cyber-security.”

This is a point which has been raised frequently but those who advocate the inclusion of Huawei in communications infrastructure moving forward. Banning a certain company or technology from networks does not tackle the issue. For some, the most sensible route forward would be that of risk mitigation, an approach Vodafone in the UK has been very vocal about.

“Huawei is already way ahead of our rivals on 6G research and we can see that the way in which we will be gathering and consuming data on those 6G networks means the cyber security risks will increase,” Soldani added.

Although it might encourage moans from some corners of the industry, 6G is becoming a very real and increasingly important facet of the connectivity mix. 5G is of course not a reality yet, but for the R&D engineers, the job is complete. Work has moved out of the research labs and into production; for these employees it is onto the next task; 6G.

This is another common message which has come out of the Huawei ranks over the last few months; it is critical to work with us, not ignore us. And many of those on the technology side would agree also.

The reason the prospect of a Huawei ban is such a divisive and persistent topic is relatively simple; Huawei produces excellent products. Not only are these products cheaper, while the field support offered to telco customers is largely unrivalled, the products are genuinely at the top of their field. There are large crowds who would suggest Huawei is market leader on in the radio and transmission segments.

“The communique from the Five Eyes was absolutely clear that countries need to ensure entire supply chains are trusted and reliable to protect our networks from unauthorized access or interference,” Soldani said.

“This means there is absolutely no point in simply banning companies from certain countries – it actually makes Australia less secure because it means we have to then increase our reliance on just one or two other vendors – neither of whom are having their equipment tested.”

This is another point which, once again, has been thrown around quite often by Huawei, but is also valid; no-one is 100% free of cybersecurity risk. By reducing the number of attack points for cyber-criminals, arguably it becomes more difficult to defend and the chances of a breach increase.

These are all perfectly valid points, but Huawei is trying to prove a negative here. Nothing which can be said or presented to the world would completely exonerate the firm of suspicion, especially with the US Government constantly hinting there is evidence of wrong-doing. The fact that no-one outside the White House or the Foreign Department has seen this evidence does appear to be irrelevant to some, though that is not to say it does not exist.

This issue is quite frankly becoming tiresome. Of course, governments around the world have a duty to ensure companies are acting responsibly through the sourcing and deployment of secure and resilient products, but the issue is become tedious to discuss week on week. Unfortunately, as the UK Government continues to kick the can down the road, the debate is likely to continue.

Although the UK is finding it difficult to maintain friendships with its peers inside and outside of the European Union, it is still an incredibly influential voice. The Supply Chain Review has attracted interest from numerous parties around the world, and the decision will be carefully scrutinised. It might be rubbing nations up the wrong way with Brexit, but its opinion still matters.

Some nations of course benefit from the on-going stand-still and some don’t. The UK doesn’t benefit as telcos are still no wiser whether supply chains will be in tatters and numerous other countries that rely on Huawei, Germany, Spain or Italy for example, are in the same boat. Australia is in a tricky position as banning Huawei limits the options which are out there. This present complications from a resilience and competition perspective.

The US appears to be one of the few nations which is not going to be impacted. Deployment might be a bit more expensive due to decreased competition, but the telcos have never had the opportunity to include Huawei in plans so there is no disruption from this on-going saga. The US might well be a lost cause, but it does appear Huawei believes it can charm Australia back on-side.

Huawei might not have given up on Australia, but as long as the White House is singing from this hymn sheet, it is likely to be nothing more than a Sisyphean task.