Chinese telecom giant Huawei has been blocked from tendering for equipment contracts with Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) because of security concerns, a report said yesterday.
The government refused to confirm the specifics of the Australian Financial Review (AFR) report. However, a spokesperson for Australian Attorney General Nicola Roxon said protecting the integrity of the ambitious NBN was of paramount importance.
“The National Broadband Network is the largest nation-building project in Australian history and it will become the backbone of Australia’s information infrastructure,” Roxon’s spokesperson said. “As such, and as a strategic and significant government investment, we have a responsibility to do our utmost to protect its integrity and that of the information carried on it.”
Huawei, which was founded by a former Chinese People’s Liberation Army engineer, was instructed late last year by Canberra that it was banned from bidding for NBN equipment contracts, the AFR said.
NBN Co, the government corporation implementing Australia’s largest ever infrastructure project, had internally endorsed Huawei, but the government intervened because of concerns about cyberattacks from China, the AFR said.
Huawei’s technology is used to build mobile phone networks around the world. It has repeatedly denied any links to the Chinese military, but has also run afoul of regulators and lawmakers in the US.
There was no immediate comment from Huawei to the AFR report. Officials say the A$35.9 billion (US$37.5 billion) NBN will connect 93 percent of Australian homes to high-speed fiber Internet, with the remainder linked via fixed-wireless services and satellite.
Roxon’s spokesperson said Canberra’s stringent approach to the network was “consistent with the government’s practice for ensuring the security and resilience of Australia’s critical infrastructure more broadly.”
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