China’s Huawei Seeks to Open 5G Door in Australia

By Staff, Agencies

The UK’s decision to permit Huawei to play a limited role in its 5G roll-out has encouraged the company to try to overturn a ban on developing the promising technology in Australia.

Jeremy Mitchell, director of corporate and public affairs for Huawei Australia, told The Australian he had already met with Communications Minister Paul Fletcher as part of a new charm offensive.

“We met the minister last year and he made it very clear to us that the government’s 5G policy, as they see it, is not vendor-specific and not country-specific,” he recounted. “And we said to him, that’s great to hear.”

“But we want to know what the rules are, and what are the requirements to have 5G contracts in Australia and we want to meet them … But the UK decision provides a good viewpoint of what requirements they’ve made and what guidelines they’ve set in place.”

Huawei has won several major contracts in Australia: it has been selling kit to metro rail systems in Sydney and Perth, and was contracted last month to deliver Brisbane’s new digital signalling system. The firm is hopeful that it would “meet the requirements” to be allowed to participate in 5G – but has to learn them first.

Jeremy Mitchell lamented: “Unfortunately in Australia, we’ve never been able to sit down and have that conversation with the security agencies … about what are the boundaries, what are the requirements that we need to go through.”

“Our question is, if [the UK] can do it, why can’t Australia? We hope we can have a good, sensible, fact-based discussion about the possibility of using our leadership and innovation in Australia.”

The Australian understands that the government is “unlikely” to overturn the 5G ban, although some experts, including former defense deputy secretary Hugh White, are said to be in favor of this idea.

“The idea that we can solve that problem as the Turnbull government tried by saying we’re not having any part of that – I think the British decision shows that that approach is a bit unrealistic,” White was quoted as saying.

“We’re going to have to be a bit more sophisticated than that.”