Dell hails ban on Huawei

US TECH billionaire Michael Dell has praised Australia’s early move to block Huawei from involvement in building its 5G telecoms infrastructure, describing it as “the right move” on security grounds.

The founder and chief executive of Dell Technologies is touting an industry-wide shift towards open radio access networks (O-RAN), which would negate the need for specialised equipment and instead let telcos use software to run their networks on standardised hardware.

It is understood Dell has held talks with the Australian government. “I believe it was the right move,” Mr Dell said of Australia’s move to block Huawei.

“Countries are much more aware of the importance that telecommunications networks have in the security of a nation.

“The O-RAN movement has taken hold and with our supply chain and integration capabilities, and our strong alliance with VMware, we’ve created a great set of capabilities that is highly applicable to the 5G rollouts in Australia.”

Huawei is effectively pulling out of Australia, with its workforce down to 145 from a peak of about 1200. The Chinese state-linked company’s revenue plunged after bans on its involvement in broadband and 5G networks, according to financial statements filed with Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Mr Dell said Australia was one of the strongest performing markets for his company and he was keeping a close eye on some of our fastest-growing tech start-ups and what they were accomplishing.

“You’ve got some great things happening in Australia. Canva, Atlassian and Afterpay are becoming great companies,” he said. “It is inspiring to see so many new companies, new entrepreneurs, new business coming through.”