Chinese communications giant Huawei, a core developer of 5th Generation Wireless (5G) technology, has been banned from participating in Australia's 5G rollout - and the company is not happy.
After an extensive review on national security risks to 5G networks, the Australian Government arrived at a view changes required by the integration of 5G will increase the potential for security threats to Australia's telecommunications networks.
In a statement relating to 5G security guidance for Australian carriers issued earlier this week, the Australian Government said it "considers that the involvement of vendors who are likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government that conflict with Australian law, may risk failure by the carrier to adequately protect a 5G network from unauthorised access or interference."
While not naming Huawei specifically, the company confirmed it would be prevented from participating in Australia's 5G networks in a tweet on Wednesday.
5G Ban Politically Motivated: Huawei
Yesterday, Huawei released a more detailed statement on the situation.
"The Australian Government’s decision to block Huawei from Australia’s 5G market is politically motivated, not the result of a fact-based, transparent, or equitable decision-making process," said the company. "There is no fundamental difference between 5G and 4G network architecture; the core networks and access networks are still separated. Moreover, 5G has stronger guarantees around privacy and security protection than 3G and 4G."
Huawei insists it has never been asked to engage in intelligence work on behalf of any government and that the Australian Government has a " mistaken and narrow understanding of Chinese law".
Huawei has not given up its fight and is now rattling legal sabres.
"..in accordance with Australian law and relevant international conventions, we will take all possible measures to protect our legal rights and interests," says the company.
Back in June, the company pleaded its case for participating in Australia's 5G rollout in an open letter; assuring MPs that “Huawei is good & safe for Australia.”
5G will provide much faster data communications than 4G and offer lower latency, which is the measure of time delay from one point of a network to another. 4G was mainly focused on mobile services, but 5G is where fixed wireless internet is really going to shine.
While many Australian internet service providers (ISPs) are still getting their heads around how to implement the technology, Melbourne-based fixed wireless internet provider Lightning Broadband has already begun its 5G integration.