Maduro Ready to Cooperate With China’s Huawei on 5G Rollout in Venezuela

By Staff, Agencies

China’s embattled tech giant Huawei has stated it will increase its investment in 5G in spite of the US ban on its products, while emphasizing cybersecurity and privacy as "top priorities" for all further development.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has stated he intends to develop 5G networks in the country in cooperation with the Chinese side, writes El Nacional.

According to Maduro, trial installation of the equipment will begin shortly.

“5G technology is coming to Venezuela through strategic and comprehensive cooperation with China,” Maduro said.

He added that Caracas will continue to cooperate with Beijing in the sphere of technology.

Earlier, Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei said that Beijing welcomes participation of companies with foreign capital in the development of technology and the 5G market in the country.

China’s tech giant Huawei said on 24 June it will increase its investment in 5G in spite of the US ban on its products, while also emphasizing cybersecurity and privacy as "top priorities" for further development.

Huawei Carrier CEO Ryan Ding spoke at Huawei's annual user group meeting in Wuzhen, Zhejiang, underscoring the Chinese tech giant will continue providing 5G products and partnering with carriers to build a "fully connected, intelligent world."

As 5G networks begin rolling out and commercializing around the world, telecoms vendors are rushing to get a headstart, with Huawei equipment currently behind two-thirds of the commercially launched 5G networks outside China, said Ryan Ding.

Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecoms gear, has landed 50 commercial 5G contracts from countries including South Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Finland and more. In all, the Shenzhen-based firm has shipped more than 150,000 base stations, according to Ding.

To appease potential clients, Huawei has gone around the world offering no-backdoors pacts to local governments of the UK and most recently India.

The Chinese foreign ministry asked India, which has been talking to other countries on the issues of Huawei, to make an "independent judgement and provide a fair, unbiased and non-discriminatory environment" to Huawei for mutual benefit.

Huawei has already made an offer to sign a “no backdoor” agreement with the Indian government and promised to keep all servers in India.

Huawei’s impressive number of deals came despite the continuing US effort to lobby allies against using its equipment. In May, the Trump administration put Huawei on a trade blacklist over concerns around the firm’s spying capabilities in a move that has effectively banned US companies from doing businesses with the Chinese tech giant.

Washington has also been pressuring European allies to deny the Chinese tech giant access to the construction of 5G networks, threatening to limit intelligence sharing efforts otherwise.

The US claims the Chinese company cooperates with the government, installing backdoors in its equipment for Beijing's espionage and cyberattacks. Beijing and Huawei have condemned the US move, denying the allegations.