Huawei defends its brand integrity

Chinese technology giant Huawei will take a “proactive approach” to represent its brand “truthfully and honestly” in Australia, a senior executive told China Daily on Wednesday in Sydney.

Jeremy Mitchell, Huawei’s director of corporate and public affairs for Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific, said that lots of things said about Huawei “are simply not based on fact”.

Mitchell had earlier written a blog post criticizing former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull for calling on the United Kingdom to boycott Huawei’s 5G technology as “it posed a security risk”.

Australia will begin the shift to fifth-generation cellular wireless technology, known as 5G, later this year without Huawei. The company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, is considered a world leader in 5G technology but was banned by the Australian federal government from taking part in the transition because of “security concerns”.

“Now that Huawei is excluded from the Australian 5G mix, telecom operators will be paying around 30 percent more for second-best technology,” Mitchell said.

He criticized Turnbull for believing the “myth” of an increased security risk. “The myth falsely suggests the edge or radio access layer the network can’t be sufficiently secured in a 5G network,” he said.

Australia was the first country to ban Huawei’s 5G equipment and has never explained what those security concerns were. Huawei has invited authorities to examine its technology, but the Australian government has never taken up the invitation — unlike its counterparts in New Zealand, Canada and the UK.

Philip Branch, associate professor of engineering at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, said, “I am not sure about the actual numbers, but there will definitely be a cost in blocking Huawei.”

Branch said Huawei has engaged with the international process and has made significant contributions to the standards.

“Their products are likely to be technologically advanced, but given the scale of production likely with such a big market, also very competitively priced. By eliminating Huawei from the tender process, the other companies have a very strong competitor removed for them,” he said.

Huawei is a key player in introducing next-generation 5G network technologies as well as a leading smartphone brand that rivals key players like Apple and Samsung.

It has been steadily increasing its 5G contracts despite alleged security concerns in some markets.

Hu Houkun, rotating chairman of Huawei, said on Wednesday in Beijing that so far, the company has shipped more than 45,000 5G base stations for the world, compared to the 40,000 it claimed at last month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Huawei also said during the conference in Spain that it has secured over 30 5G contracts in overseas markets and has signed cooperation deals with more than 50 partners.

“We need to grasp 5G business opportunities and actively carry out more cross-industry cooperation in terms of 5G applications, which will help boost global industrial development,” Hu said.

We need to grasp 5G business opportunities and actively carry out more cross-industry cooperation, which will help boost global industrial development.” Hu Houkun, rotating chairman of Huawei