Where to now for

Analysis: Security regulations around network updates could resurrect the Huawei saga at any time, writes Tom Pullar-Strecker.

It may take months or years before Kiwi telecommunications companies find out whether they will be able to buy 5G equipment from China’s Huawei.

But the next instalment in the Huawei saga could come sooner than that, with one of New Zealand’s spy agencies revealing it is requiring telecommunications companies to submit plans on proposed network changes on average every few days.

In December, the Government Communications Security Bureau blocked a proposal by Spark to use Huawei equipment to upgrade its mobile network to 5G, citing ‘‘significant network security risks’’.

Spark now has the right to explain how it could ‘‘prevent or mitigate’’ the risks the GCSB has identified, and the spy agency could then refer the matter to the Minister responsible for GCSB, Andrew Little, for a final decision if it wasn’t satisfied.

Spark has chosen instead to bide its time before pressing for an answer, perhaps while it waits for the international angst surrounding Huawei to abate or for the geopolitics of the West’s relationship with China to improve.

Vodafone and 2degrees have made it clear they would prefer to wait anyway before investing in 5G.

But the next test for Huawei could still come at almost any time, as and when a telco needs to submit a plan to the GCSB that involves making a change to one of their existing networks.

2degrees’ 4G network is largely built using Huawei technology and Spark, Vodafone and Chorus also use equipment from Huawei for 4G, cable networks and for some rural broadband services.

Under the Telecommunications Interception Capability and Security Act, which was passed by Parliament in 2013, telecommunications firms need to engage with the GCSB before making changes that could impact network security.

These are not uncommon. A GCSB spokeswoman says that it deals with ‘‘more than 100’’ notifications under the act each year.

If a telco did, for example, need to ask the GCSB to approve the purchase of more 4G equipment from Huawei, that would be unlikely to become public, however.

The spy agency treats all applications under the act as commercially confidential and its knock-back of Spark’s original 5G proposal became public only because Spark chose to make it so.

While that means New Zealand’s stance on Huawei could go dark for while, the potential fallout from the global squeeze on Huawei became apparent relatively close to home late last month.

Australian telecommunications firm TPG announced it had abandoned the construction of what would have been Australia’s fourth 4G mobile network after spending A$100 million on Huawei equipment for 1500 cellsites and on partially building 900 of them.

TPG, which is valued at A$6.7 billion (NZ$7b) on the Australian Securities