Australia provided carriers with new security guidance for next-generation mobile telephone technology, warning that involvement with government-linked foreign companies could put carriers at risk of breaching obligations.
The nature of so-called 5G technology means that security protocols that govern earlier phone networks won’t sufficiently protect from threats to national security from unauthorized interference, according to a statement Thursday from Treasurer Scott Morrison and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield.
In particular, “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 unauthorized access or interference,” said the ministers in the statement.
The statement, which didn’t identify any companies, could be a problem for China’s Huawei Technologies Co., which has come under fire in Australia and the U.S. for links to the Chinese government. Calls to Huawei’s spokesman in Australia weren’t immediately answered.
Australia’s security agencies have recommended Huawei be barred from supplying 5G technology, according to the Australian Financial Review. China’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment has been in talks with the government in an attempt to accommodate the domestic security requirements in order to win a share of Australia’s 5G equipment market.
Huawei, founded in 1988 by former Chinese army officer Ren Zhengfei, and its rival ZTE Corp., have come under increased scrutiny in the U.S. over fears their equipment could be used for spying.
Nevertheless, Huawei has said it has rolled out technology in the U.K., Canada, Germany and Spain without compromising national security.
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