Spark using Samsung to build 5G mobile network

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evilengineer

467 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2433163 5-Mar-2020 13:53

Looks to me like they've gone with Samsung on the basis that the only way they'll get anything deployed anytime soon is by choosing a different (less controversial) supplier.

The clock's still ticking on the Americas Cup and Vodafone already have a head start etc.

BUT...I don't see anything in there that rules out trying again with Huawai if Spark think they can get it past the spooks.

The outlook could change quite significantly (in either direction) by the end of year depending on the outcome of the US election and/or whether Conservative MPs can force a Government U-turn on Huawai's involvement.

And lets not forget our own election, of course. 😀

Intravix

110 posts

Master Geek
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#2433164 5-Mar-2020 13:54

chevrolux:

Interesting. I wonder what Nokia thinks about that?

"We should have sharped our pencils" or "Meh, rounding error with our revenue".

tripper1000

1659 posts

Uber Geek
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#2433238 5-Mar-2020 15:47

ajw: Huawei leads the world in 5G tech with the best pricing. This bullying by the US against it's allies not to use Huawei is just blatant protectionism.

Sorry to burst your bubble but Samsung is not an American company (nor Nokia, Ericsson or many of the other acceptable alternates).

ajw

1972 posts

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#2433396 5-Mar-2020 21:33

tripper1000:

ajw: Huawei leads the world in 5G tech with the best pricing. This bullying by the US against it's allies not to use Huawei is just blatant protectionism.

Sorry to burst your bubble but Samsung is not an American company (nor Nokia, Ericsson or many of the other acceptable alternates).

And not hard to work out where a lot of the components that Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson use are made in China. I note American politicians have already floated the idea of buying a controlling stake in Nokia or Ericsson. I note the Swiss are even giving US the two fingered salute.

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-could-buy-ericsson-nokia-to-compete-against-huawei-report-2020-2/?r=AU&IR=T

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-04/huawei-finds-5g-heaven-in-switzerland-with-fitbits-for-cows

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/america-has-limited-options-on-5g-to-fend-off-chinas-huawei-challenge.html

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/03/tory-mp-asks-bt-using-huawei-complies-anti-slavery-policy

noroad

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Trusted

#2433468 6-Mar-2020 06:44

Intravix:

Interesting. I wonder what Nokia thinks about that?

Well, Nokia already supplies just about everything else to Spark (apart from a small amount of Juniper kit), so they are still sitting pretty nicely.

loceff13

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#2435410 10-Mar-2020 00:47

evilengineer:

BUT...I don't see anything in there that rules out trying again with Huawai if Spark think they can get it past the spooks.

Going to be pretty unlikely the spooks change positions with the current US stance of potentially excluding or reducing intelligence sharing at the levels we have now if we use the gear. I'm in favour of using it sinces there no proof of any compromises at all, the GCHQ have had access to gear early and related firmwares etc and found no backdoors after years of reviews.

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evilengineer

467 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2435463 10-Mar-2020 09:18

loceff13:

Going to be pretty unlikely the spooks change positions with the current US stance of potentially excluding or reducing intelligence sharing at the levels we have now if we use the gear. I'm in favour of using it sinces there no proof of any compromises at all, the GCHQ have had access to gear early and related firmwares etc and found no backdoors after years of reviews.

Which was kind of my point.

The current US stance could change quite fundamentally in November or maybe it won't, who knows?

Either way, given its a two horse race there's always a reasonable chance of a change.

Odds of 3-1 or 4-1 might be worth a punt, particularly if you've hedged your bets with Samsung in the meantime.

Also, its unclear to me whether the US will follow through with its threats if the UK sticks to its guns on Huawai.

tripper1000

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#2435688 10-Mar-2020 14:13

The way I see it Huawai sits at the crossroads on two sensitive points which is why it has drawn more flack than fellow Chinese companies. The generic Chinese security risk & the theft of IP.

1) All Chinese companies can be compelled to assist the Chinese Ministry of State Security. China is one of the most prolific State Hackers.

2) Huawai has been caught exporting samples of chips out of the USA that it was illegal for anyone to export from the USA (and then they attempting to reverse engineer them).

The current existence or not of back-doors is almost irrelevant to the argument. How many times have you installed updated drivers from a device manufacturer? Whilst backdoor may not presently exist, what is to stop them being sneaked in later. Even if you decide not to do security updates etc. there is the issue of highly targeted air-gaped malware (Stuxnet-esk) that the co-operation of of the OEM would be invaluable for creating.

Cessation of intelligence sharing type threats from the USA can go beyond the obvious sharing of information. It can mean the sharing of technology - the USA supplies its trusted partners with encryption hardware as used by embassies and military. It would be painful and expensive to loose access to this gear. Stuff like the modern versions of Kiv7 and KG84 and voice stuff. You know if it is designed by the NSA (the masters of snooping), it's got to be pretty good at keeping the bad guys in the dark.

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