Australian-Chinese business council calls on the Australian government's decision to ban telecoms equipment provider Huawei Technologies a wrong move as the country paves way for its proposed 5G infrastructure. Experts believe local tech firms could face steep operational and maintenance costs with the Chinese company blown out of the way.
Australian China Business Council head chief Helen Sawczak thinks that excluding Huawei in the 5G picture is a straight up "huge loss" for Australia, a report from the Sydney Morning Herald said.
Apparently, Huawei wasn't just the only one banned from participating in the country's 5G rollout. A previous report from this site also mentioned the barring of China-based telecom vendor, ZTE, from the 5G bid.
The same report cited Beijing's response to Australia's prohibition of China-based telecom companies, accusing the country's Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, with "double standards."
Sawczak went on to stipulate, based on a statement cited over at SMH, that this decision from the Morrison administration "still needs to be properly explored." Meanwhile, Morrison also needs to address the "national security concerns" it pointed out as one of the apparent reasons for banning the two companies.
Australian Telecom Industry Set To Suffer Consequences
Sawczak further commented on the government's selective attitude, saying this could result in the Australian telecom industry to suffer in the long run. If it remains adamant in its decision, there is a potential for competition to dwindle. This would eventually deprive Australian consumers "access to world-leading technology."
According to Global Times, that ban will certainly lead to higher costs of building Australia's 5G networks. Citing an industry expert, the media outlet specified a "30 percent" figure of increase and this won't sell well to customers who expect a much faster yet cost-effective mobile internet service.
The Reason Behind the Decision
A joint statement from the Ministry for Home Affairs and Ministry for Communications and the Arts of Australia mentioned over at Smart Company indicated the reason why the dying Turnbull government did the deed.
According to the two agencies, Australia is a bit wary on the possibility that these third-party service vendors (Huawei and ZTE) will become "subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government," in this case, the Chinese government.
It was also further stated that the carriers might not be safeguarded from unauthorized access or intrusion.
Huawei, on its part, maintained that it has, by all means, "safely and securely" delivered the services required of them.
Huawei is one of Australia's major providers of wireless technology services for more than 10 years already.
