Huawei chair insists its 5G can be trusted

Guo Ping, rotating chairman of Huawei Technologies Co, said yesterday told the Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona that the US accusation had no evidence and suggested the US government was hypocritical.
“It [the accusation] has no evidence, nothing,” he said. 
“The irony is that the US Cloud Act allows governmental entities to access data across borders.”
He urged nations to choose Huawei for the best technology and greater security.
“We have not, and will never, plant backdoors. And we will never allow anyone to do so in our equipment,” Ping pledged.
“Our responsibility is that we do not do bad things. We take this responsibility very seriously.”
The executive takes pride in saying that the firm has a strong track record in security over three decades, serving three billion people around the world.
“There has never been more interest in Huawei. We must be doing something right.”
The executive said people cannot use prisms, crystal balls or politics to manage cybersecurity.
“It’s a challenge we all share,” Ping said in a provocative speech.
“Prism, prism on the wall. Who is the most trustworthy of them all? It is an important question to ask. And if you do not understand this question, go ask Edward Snowden,” he said.
The executive noted the need for aligned responsibilities, unified standards and clear regulations to build a system that all industry players can trust. He said technology providers, carriers, regulators and the industry as a whole are responsible for complying with standards and building secure equipment.
“With 5G, we have made a lot of progress over 4G. 5G is safer than 4G. As vendors, we do not operate carrier networks, and we do not own carrier data,” Ping said.
Carriers are responsible for the secure operations of their own networks, and they can manage, monitor, and audit all vendors and partners to make sure their network elements are secure.
“The boundaries between different networks are clear. Carriers can prevent external attacks with firewalls and security gateways,” he said.
The executive also stressed the importance of working together on standards as a shared responsibility.
“We need to standardise cybersecurity requirements, and these standards must be verifiable for all vendors and all carriers,” Ping said.
Huawei fully supports the Network Equipment Security Assurance Scheme, jointly defined by GSMA and the 3rd generation partnership project, he said. The standards were created with the support of many government security agencies that have strong capabilities to verify 5G security.
He seemed proud to announce that Huawei was the first company able to deploy 5G networks at scale. The firm has already begun helping carriers deploy 5G at scale.
“We can deliver the simplest possible sites with better performance. With 100 megahertz, our 5G can reach more than 14 gigs-per-second. That is for a single sector. We are at the leading edge of performance,” Ping said.
On Huawei 5G, single-user speed reaches 1.3 Gbps. Last October, the firm launched the world’s most powerful AI chips – Ascend 910 and Ascend 310. The chips were designed to bring intelligence to all scenarios, and reduce computing power costs for carrier networks.
“We have developed many algorithms and models for carrier networks. With artificial intelligence, we can increase resource efficiency, make O&M [observations and measurements] easier, and reduce power consumption for telecom networks,” he said.
The executive said he believes that consistent investment has produced many positive results.
“Through non-stop investment, we can keep providing our customers with new, innovative products and more efficient services,” Ping said.