US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says world is abandoning China’s Huawei in favor of ‘Clean Telcos’ for 5G trials; Names India’s Jio as one among the clean telcos

US Secretary of State,Mike Pompeo, has said that the “tide is turning against” Chinese multinational Huawei in the sale of 5G technologies. Huawei is backed by the Chinese Military and concerns over security and intrusion by the Chinese company has grown over the years. Pompeo’s assertion comes amid efforts by the Trump administration to cut off Chinese companies from the supply chain over cyber-security concerns.

Pompeo said “The tide is turning against Huawei as citizens around the world are waking up to the danger of the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state. Huawei’s deals with telecommunications operators around the world are evaporating, because countries are only allowing trusted vendors in their 5G networks.” Greece recently agreed to use Ericsson rather than Huawei to develop its 5G infrastructure.

According to Pompeo, some of the largest telecom companies around the world are also becoming “Clean Telcos”. Naming India’s Jio among clean telcos, he said “We’ve seen this with Orange in France, Jio in India, Telstra in Australia, SK and KT in South Korea, NTT in Japan, and O2 in the United Kingdom.

A few weeks ago, the big three telecommunications companies in Canada decided to partner with Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung, because public opinion was overwhelmingly against allowing Huawei to build Canada’s 5G networks.

It can be recalled that United Kingdom and Australia too had expressed grave security concerns over Huawei’s technologies. Australia without naming China has accused the Communist country to interfering in its democratic processes and hacking of its servers. UK and Australia are about officially bar Huawei from the 5G trials.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the Chinese government is using Huawei to conduct cyber espionage on the U.S. and other countries. Though the Chinese conglomerate denies the charges, US administration blacklisted Hauwei in 2019. This move forbid US ICT companies from buying equipment from Hauwei.

The Trump administration also warned to cut-off intelligence sharing with allies who continue to patronise Chinese companies, especially Huawei for their ICT infrastructure.

Recently, US Department of Defense (DOD) listed 20 companies operating in the United States that it alleged are backed by the Chinese military. The DOD list also includes China Mobile Communications Group and China Telecommunications Corp as well as aircraft manufacturer Aviation Industry Corp of China, apart from Huawei and Hikvision.