A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation intended to jump-start the development of 5G mobile technology in the United States because of security fears related to Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE.
The Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act would provide more than $1.2 billion toward the development of U.S.-based 5G technologies.
“Every month that the U.S. does nothing, Huawei stands poised to become the cheapest, fastest, most ubiquitous global provider of 5G while U.S. and Western companies and workers lose out on market share and jobs,” said Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia and a primary sponsor of the bill. “It is imperative that Congress address the complex security and competitiveness challenges that Chinese-directed telecommunication companies pose.”
Huawei is one of a handful of large companies making 5G equipment, with South Korea’s Samsung, Finland’s Nokia, and Sweden’s Ericsson being the other significant players.
In recent months, several lawmakers have questioned Huawei’s relationship with the Chinese government. The government has invested billions of dollars into the telecommunications equipment firm, and critics have suggested that Beijing could use Huawei equipment to spy on customers or on communications traffic. Representatives of Huawei didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In May, President Trump signed an executive order banning U.S. companies and government agencies from using telecommunications equipment that creates national security risks, and the U.S. Department of Commerce added Huawei to its banned vendor list.
The USA Telecommunications Act directs the Federal Communications Commission to take at least $750 million from future spectrum auctions and fund efforts such as the Open Radio Access Network Alliance, an open-architecture, software-based wireless technology project.
The bill would also create a $500 million Multilateral Telecommunications Security Fund that would be available for 10 years to the U.S. and foreign partners to accelerate the adoption of trusted and secure equipment across the globe.
Security and telecommunications experts generally praised the legislation. Still, an investment of $1.2 billion “pales in comparison with what existing telecommunications firms and manufacturers have already invested,” said Ray Walsh, a digital privacy expert with ProPrivacy.com, a privacy tools review site. “While investment in 5G is a good idea, there are genuine concerns that this investment may be too little, too late.”
The U.S. has fallen behind Huawei, Nokia, and Ericsson in the 5G technology race, noted veteran security and telecommunications analyst Marco Ermini. He worries that the bill may not have a significant impact because “it is highly unlikely that just throwing money at a problem will solve it.”
The bill attempts to address a problem of U.S. technological independence and the cost of 5G. Ermini added that Nokia and Ericsson equipment is likely to be “extremely” more expensive than Huawei.
U.S. concerns about Huawei appear to be justified, Walsh said. In 2011 and 2012, telecom provider Vodafone found back doors in Huawei equipment installed in Italy. “Evidence and allegations of Huawei using its technology to snoop on data passing over its networks has surfaced in several locations around the world, and there seems to be plenty of reason to harbor concerns over the company’s connection to the Chinese government,” he said.
The 5G networking hardware allows operators to examine traffic through a technique called deep packet inspection, added Andrew Stark, cybersecurity director at managed service provider RedMosquito.
“Theoretically, there is a risk that a hardware provider could easily intercept this data and spy on 5G communications, and it is also worth noting that Huawei technology already empowers governments across the globe to eavesdrop on their own networks,” he said.
But Ermini downplayed the current concerns about Huawei’s security. “From a purely technological point of view, the risk of Huawei actively using 5G cells, nodes, or the core to spy on U.S. citizens is minimal to none,” he said. “Simply put, it is very tricky to pull off without anyone noticing, and that would constitute a disaster for Huawei, which is under the limelight and … would simply cause them to lose customers.”
But the Huawei security situation is fluid, he added. “Obviously, it is very difficult to predict the future, and it is perfectly understandable why someone would have such fears,” he said. “Even if Huawei would have no interest in spying on the U.S today, the situation could change in the future.”
