Huawei racks up 5G deals at top mobile fair despite US pressure
BARCELONA: Chinese telecoms giant Huawei racked up a slew of deals to sell 5G equipment at the world’s top mobile fair in Spain despite Washington’s campaign to convince its allies to bar the firm from their nextgeneration wireless networks.
The famously secretive company launched a media offensive at the Mobile World Congress which wraps up in Barcelona on Thursday against US accusations that its cheap equipment used in telecommunications infrastructure across the globe is a Trojan horse for potential Chinese state spying and sabotage.
The United States considers the matter urgent as countries around the world prepare to roll out fifthgeneration,or 5G, networks that will bring near-instantaneous connectivity that can enable futuristic technologies such as self-driving cars.
On Sunday on the eve of the start of the fair, which companies usually reserve to unveil their new devices, top Huawei officials held several press conferences and meetings with reporters where they strenuously rejected Washington’s claims.
“We need to be more transparent, and that means speaking out more often,” Huawei’s President for Western Europe, Vincent Ping, told reporters on Monday.
The highlight of the media offensive came Tuesday when one of Huawei’s rotating chairmen, Guo Ping, delivered a keynote speech where reiterated the company’s position that there are no “backdoors” in its 5G tech that could allow Beijing to spy on countries.
“The US security accusation against our 5G has no evidence. Nothing. The irony is that the US Cloud Act allow their entities to access data across borders,” he told a packed auditorium, speaking in English.
This argument was echoed by several telecoms operators and government delegations at the trade fair.
“Security is a matter of concern if it has been proven. But for now, we just hear speculations from the US about Huawei over questions of security,” Malawi’s Minister for Communications Technology told AFP.
“Huawei is quite aggressive in this industry and they are a step ahead of the other players. We just want to appreciate all the questions of security as a matter of concern but we need that countries as US show us the problems in order to help us.”