Huawei NBN snub risk-based: Fed official

The Australian government has confirmed the decision to exclude Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huawei from bidding for the National Broadband Network was a "risk-based decision".

In a report in the Australian Financial Review, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described the NBN as a “strategic investment” which the government had a responsibility to protect.

Huawei has consistently denied it has close relations with the People’s Liberation Army and Chinese government. However last week a former CIA head, Michael Hayden, reopened the debate, accusing the telecoms supplier of spying for China.

The company has rejected the latest allegations, with a spokesperson describing them to the ABC as “ridiculous” and without evidence. Huawei has never been found to have done anything wrong, yet its founder Ren Zhengfei's association with the PLA as a civil engineer more than 20 years ago has created PR headaches for the company, especially as it tries to gain a foothold in the lucrative enterprise market.

Australia is the only place outside of China with a local board of directors. Chair of Huawei Australia, John Lord, said recently blacklisting a single supplier or country would not make critical infrastructure more secure. He also made the point that the nature of the global supply chain meant equipment from Huawei's rivals such as Cisco and Alcatel Lucent was largely put together in China anyway.

The Huawei situation is in marked contrast to rival Chinese telecommunications equipment supplier ZTE, which CRN revealed was invited to bid for the NBN.

Alain Saaroni, executive director with ZTE A/NZ told CRN the company has had “plenty” of discussions with Australian state and federal agencies, and had been told “ZTE is welcome in Australia.” Saaroni initally said ZTE had spoken to ASIO, but later corrected his statement to say the company had not contacted the security agency.

A subsequent report by CRN sister publication SC revealed the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had declined to provide reasons why ZTE had the stamp of approval, and Huawei had not.

"Any ASIO advice to government on critical infrastructure protection, including telecommunications matters, is confidential," ASIO told SC in a statement.

Last year a US senate committe concluded communications equipment from both ZTE and Huawei was vulnerable to security backddors, while a Whitehouse investigation into Huawei made similar conclusions. 

Critics of the Federal Government's decision to exclude Huawei from the NBN pointed to the fact it was awarded a similar contract to build the UK's equivalent fast broadband network. The company subsequently built a security testing facility in Bunbury, a move which was seen to bolster its security credentials.