Australia’s TPG Telecom Ltd yesterday said it has abandoned building its mobile telephone network because it relied on Huawei Technologies Co (華為) equipment that has been banned by Australia’s government on security grounds.
The nascent network is the first commercial casualty in Australia of the ban announced in August last year, and comes as Western nations restrict market access to Huawei over allegations that China could use its equipment for espionage. Huawei denies the allegations.
Broadband Internet provider TPG said in a statement that it chose Huawei as a supplier because it offered a simple upgrade path from the 4G network under construction to 5G.
Photo: AP
“That upgrade path has now been blocked,” TPG said. “It does not make commercial sense to invest further shareholder funds.”
TPG said it made the decision now because the project had reached a point where it would have had to place new orders.
It did not elaborate on the fate of the completed part of the network, but said it does not expect any impact on this year’s earnings.
Huawei called TPG’s announcement “extremely disappointing.”
“Australians will now miss out on cheaper and more affordable mobile services,” Huawei spokesman Jeremy Mitchell said in an e-mailed statement.
TPG shares touched a six-week peak following its announcement and closed up 3 percent.
The cancelation has cost it A$100 million (US$71.63 million), but is widely seen as eliminating duplication under the A$15 billion merger it has agreed with the Australian arm of Britain’s Vodafone Group PLC.
TPG’s announcement also buoyed shares elsewhere in the sector, with those of Telstra Corp Ltd rising 8 percent to a more than three-month high as investors expected relief from profit-margin pressure in the price-competitive sector. The broader market closed down 0.5 percent.
“You take one network out and then, obviously, in the end, for customers you’ve got less choice,” independent telecom analyst Paul Budde said. “This will be a relief for Telstra and others.”
TPG’s move adds to pressure Huawei is facing globally after the US and its allies initiated measures to restrict market access for the Chinese firm and compatriot ZTE Corp (中興), citing espionage risk.
Australia’s intelligence agencies feared that if mobile operators use Huawei’s equipment, the company could develop a means of collecting data at the request of China’s government.
Operators in Europe such as BT and Orang, have already removed Huawei’s equipment or taken steps to limit its future use, while Vodafone has paused its use.
In Australia, Vodafone and Optus, which use Huawei’s 4G equipment, must now design 5G systems based only on Nokia Oyj or Ericsson technology, a process TPG executive chairman David Teoh said would likely be costly.
DAMAGE REPORT: Global central banks are assessing war-driven inflation risks as the law of unintended consequences careens around the world, spiking oil prices Central banks from Washington to London and from Jakarta to Taipei are about to make their first assessments of economic damage after more than two weeks of conflict between the US and Iran. Decisions this week encompassing every member of the G7 and eight of the world’s 10 most-traded currency jurisdictions are likely to confirm to investors that the specter of a new inflation shock is already worrying enough to prompt heightened caution. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to do exactly what everyone anticipated weeks ahead of its March 17-18 policy gathering: hold rates steady. The narrative surrounding that
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) share of the global foundry market rose to almost 70 percent last year amid booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI), market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Thursday. The contract chipmaker posted US$122.54 billion in revenue, up 36.1 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 69.9 percent of the global market, TrendForce said. Its share was up from 64.4 percent in 2024, it said. TSMC’s closest rival, Samsung Electronics, was a distant second, posting US$12.63 billion in sales, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, for a 7.2 percent share of the global market. In the
At a massive shipyard in North Vancouver, Canadian workers grind metal beams for a powerful new icebreaker crucial to cementing the country’s presence in the increasingly contested arctic. Icebreakers are specialized, expensive vessels able to navigate in the frozen far north. And “this is the crown jewel,” said Eddie Schehr, vice president of production at the Seaspan shipyard. For Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who heads to Norway next Friday to observe arctic defense drills involving troops from 14 NATO states, Canada’s extreme north has emerged as a strategic priority. “Canada is and forever will be an Arctic nation,” he said ahead of
Chinese entrepreneur Frank Gao used to spend long hours running his social media accounts but now outsources the chore to artificial intelligence (AI) agent tool OpenClaw, which is taking China by storm despite official warnings over cybersecurity. OpenClaw, created in November by an Austrian coder, differs from bots such as ChatGPT because it can execute real-life tasks such as sending e-mails, organizing files or even booking flight tickets. “Since January, I’ve spent hours on the lobster every day,” Gao said in an interview, referring to OpenClaw’s red crustacean mascot. “We’re family.” After downloading OpenClaw, users connect it to artificial intelligence models of their
RSS