Excluding Huawei and Zte from the development of 5G in Italy it is a hypothesis that must be carefully evaluated in order to protect national security. This the judgment of the Copasir, the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic, chaired by Raffaele Volpi (Lega). The "advice" was written in black and white in the report on policies and tools "for cyber protection and information security, to protect citizens, institutions, critical infrastructures and companies of strategic national interest" presented by rapporteur Elio Vito (Forza Italy).
According to Copasir, "concerns about the entry of Chinese companies into the installation, configuration and maintenance of 5G network infrastructure" are largely founded. Which means that “the hypothesis should also be evaluated, where necessary to protect national security, to exclude the aforementioned companies (Huawei and Zte, ed.) from the supply of technology for 5G networks".
The reason behind these considerations is obvious: “Chinese companies, although formally independent of government power, are nonetheless indirectly connected to the institutions of their country, also by virtue of some provisions of internal legislation”, underlines Copasir.
Soon it arrived the reaction of the Chinese company which, it should be remembered, alone controls 30% of the world market for 5G equipment: "Huawei has always stressed that the debate on cybersecurity should be based on facts and asked to demonstrate the allegations made against the company". “Until now – continues the company – no evidence has been provided. Considering that in the company's 30-year history in the ICT sector, there have been no network security incidents, Huawei strongly believes that any charges against it are purely geopolitical".
“Huawei is a 100% private company and Huawei Italia complies with Italian law. No Chinese law requires Chinese private companies to engage in cyber-espionage. The lawyers of Clifford Chance, a London-based global law firm, have concluded that Chinese law does not give Beijing the authority to compel telecommunications equipment suppliers to install backdoors or listening devices or engage in behavior that could compromise network security", concludes Huawei which says it is ready to collaborate "with all government entities and provide all the necessary guarantees to allow operators to rapidly implement 5G networks".
The opinion of the Security Committee confirms and if possible amplifies the concerns that in the last year have prompted the two Governments that have successively led the country to legislate on the matter. Indeed, in March 2019 the first Conte government extended the application of the golden power to 5G networks. In September 2019, however, the Count decided to exercise special powers over some dossiers concerning TLC companies, while on 24 October the Chamber approved the decree on cybersecurity che integrates the Government's special powers and outlines certain parameters to be respected "to ensure that all the companies involved have a security framework appropriate to the times and risks".
On the other hand, Italy is not the only country to express fears about the work of Chinese companies. The first to lash out against the two Chinese giants were the United States which put Huawei on a black list last April of companies with which American companies cannot do business without first requesting a specific authorization from the US government. The ban has been extended several times, but to date a definitive solution has not yet been reached, also due to the trade war that has involved the USA and China in the last two years. However, the parties finally seem close to an agreement and the first to benefit from the new climate of peace could be Huawei.
This side of the ocean should be arriving shortly the decision of the British Government on Huawei, pending which London has established that the company will be able to sell non-core technologies for 5G, but will have to stay out of the core ones. On 5 December, however, some of Johnson's statements anticipated what the choice could be: “I don't want this country to be hostile to foreign investment. On the other hand - says the premier - we cannot prejudice our vital national security interests nor can we prejudice our ability to cooperate with other Five Eyes security partners. This will be the key criterion that shapes our decision."
The problem is that both Huawei and ZTE are undisputed leaders in the sector and their exclusion from 5G technology could slow down its development in the countries concerned, with enormous economic and political repercussions. The purpose (of all) is therefore to safeguard both national security and technological development, provided that the two things manage to coincide.
The statement “Huawei and ZTE are unchallenged leaders” is inaccurate. There are other player drivers in the deployment of 5G around the world. It's Ericsson and Nokia!