Where is Huawei banned from working on critical networks?

oliticians in the US have alleged that Huawei’s forthcoming 5G mobile phone networks could be hacked by Chinese spies to eavesdrop on sensitive phone calls, gain access to counter-terrorist operations – and potentially even kill targets by crashing driverless cars. Allies who allow Huawei technology inside their 5G networks have been told they may be frozen out of US intelligence sharing.

US government is 'ignorant of technology', say Huawei bosses

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US: Chinese companies are banned from working on “critical” or “essential” telecoms infrastructure and Donald Trump has considered an executive order to ban Huawei from all US telecoms networks. However, the US is facing an issue with the deployment of 5G technology as the other 5G equipment suppliers – Sweden’s Ericsson Sweden and Finland’s Nokia – use Chinese suppliers. Huawei argues its networks would be safer for the US if it is worried about Chinese state interference because the Chinese factories that supply Ericsson and Nokia are owned by state companies, whereas Huawei is privately owned.

The US vice-president, Mike Pence, last month urged allies to turn their backs on Huawei, saying its technology posed a severe security threat. He said: “We must protect our critical telecom infrastructure, and America is calling on all our security partners to be vigilant and to reject any enterprise that would compromise the integrity of our communications technology or our national security system.”

Australia and New Zealand: Australia was the first country to introduce a broad ban on Huawei technology from forthcoming 5G networks because of security concerns. New Zealand later blocked Huawei from participating in a major 5G network. Earlier this month, Huawei lodged a complaint about the Australian ban with the World Trade Organization calling the ban “obviously discriminative”.

Japan: The firm has been excluded from public procurement.

Germany: The telecoms regulator said it would not ban any company from supplying its 5G network. “The operators all work with Huawei technology in their systems, anyway,” said Jochen Homann, the head of the federal network agency. “If Huawei were excluded from the market, this would delay the rollout of the digital networks.”

A US embassy spokeswoman, responding to Germany’s decision, said: “We continue to warn our allies, including Germany, about the dangers insecure 5G equipment present to their economies and national security … If that risk exceeds the threshold for the United States, we will be forced to limit information sharing in the future.”

Belgium and France: Unlikely to implement bans.

UK: The authorities have raised concerns about the security of some Huawei systems but intelligences agencies said the risks could be mitigated and have not flagged concerns about Chinese state influence. BT is replacing Huawei equipment in its 4G network with its own equipment and the University of Oxford said it would no longer accept donations from Huawei.

British authorities have been considering Huawei’s position in the 5G deployment, with a final decision expected in the coming weeks as part of a review of the UK’s future telecoms systems.

Countries including Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Thailand have also yet to decide their position on Huawei.

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