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The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia's government on Thursday banned major Chinese telecoms firm Huawei Technologies from supplying equipment for its planned 5G mobile network, citing risks of foreign interference.
The 1000-word statement did not mention China, or the Chinese telecommunications equipment giants Huawei or ZTE. Nor did it plainly state the bombshell decision that they are to be banned from building Australia's new telecommunications network.
The fifth generation mobile telecoms system, or 5G, is a big deal. It's to be the key architecture of an increasingly wired nation, connecting power and water systems, medical and driverless technologies, systems in homes and hospitals, factories and farms, enabling the so-called "internet of things".
If you're getting the impression that the government didn't want to draw attention to the announcement, you're right. After months of careful scrutiny, the cabinet's national security committee had made the decision a week earlier. Then sat on it.
Why? Because it was nervous about Beijing's reaction. Canberra was still negotiating its way out of a Chinese freeze on ministerial contacts and didn't want to bring on another any earlier than necessary.
But everyone involved knew that it inevitably would bring on Beijing's wrath. And so, when the ministers decided they couldn't delay any longer, it did.
[...] All of Australia's intelligence and security agencies were in accord that the big Chinese firms must be shut out of the fifth-generation, or 5G, mobile telecommunications network, according to participants in the process.
The Communications Department had produced an analysis of how this might increase the cost to Australian consumers. Huawei had claimed that it had the highest quality, lowest price 5G technology. To exclude Huawei would be to punish Australian firms and families, it argued.
But despite the claims, the Communications Department concluded that any such assessment was merely speculative – the global technology and engineering specifications for 5G are still being drafted.
Related: U.S. Intelligence Agency Heads Warn Against Using Huawei and ZTE Products
The U.S. Intelligence Community's Demonization of Huawei Remains Highly Hypocritical
Huawei CEO Still Committed to the U.S. Market
Rural Wireless Association Opposes U.S. Government Ban on Huawei and ZTE Equipment
ZTE Suspends Operations Due to U.S. Ban (UPDATED)
New Law Bans U.S. Government from Buying Equipment from Chinese Telecom Giants ZTE and Huawei
(Score: 4, Informative) by tangomargarine on Tuesday August 28 2018, @03:14PM (1 child)
So maybe you could tell us what the article *did* say, instead of just implying you pulled this out of your ass?
Buried way at the bottom of the blather in the fluffy article. And from my reading it doesn't actually say foreign companies are banned. A lot of maybes and "expected to"s.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @08:51PM
maybe Australia is just doing its but in the trade war.. https://www.dw.com/en/zte-huawei-bans-genuine-security-concerns-or-part-of-china-trade-spat/a-43456452 [dw.com]