Huawei, Chinese corps in our comms..

Theresa May has astounded the press today by unveiling that she will allow the Chinese multinational telecoms provider to play a part in bringing the nation its 5G data network, despite many security risks which have been unveiled.

US wanted its allies in the “Five Eyes” intelligence grouping – the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – to exclude the company.

Huawei denied on several occasions that it has any affiliation with the Chinese government is disclosing communication data, therefore poses no risk to sabotage or espionage.

Australia, however have decided to side with the US stating, “serious concerns over Huawei’s obligations to the Chinese government and the danger that poses to the integrity of telecommunications networks in the US and elsewhere”.

In Glasgow later this year there is a security conference and cyber threats are among the issues on the agenda for Five Eyes to discuss, and you can be sure that this breach of trust with the US will not go down too well.

5G is the next (fifth) generation of mobile internet connectivity, promising much faster data download and upload speeds, wider coverage and more stable connections.

Huawei’s involvement with 5G will include helping to build parts of antennas and other infrastructure. This will result in Huawei having no control of “core” parts of the network, this would include the routing of calls and data.

The home, defence and foreign secretaries were reported to have raised concerns, which is hardly a surprise considering how much press there has been lately discussing Huawei’s wrong doings.

5G is the future and will be the key source of mobile data communication, are we right to allow the Chinese government to play a part in that?