5G Technology has alarmed many in the security establishment of USA and Europe. A technology which has shown promises to revolutionize telecom sector radically in next couple of years has also posed a major security threat to national security according to experts. The technology has many loopholes which can also be exploited to conduct espionage operations. Intelligence agencies have warned of impending chaos if the threat is not addressed. EU is following similar suit following US lead to stop Chinese telecom companies from creating 5G base in the nation’s territory.
The Trump White House is considering to roll out an executive order to ban US companies from starting joint ventures and also use equipments made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE. American suspicions about the technologies possible espionage usage has alarmed many countries in the European Union. Italy, Finland, Spain, Germany, Austria, and Belgium have raised similar concerns about the technology’s possible abuse by Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies.
The battle became fierce with the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, after the company refused to cooperate with US on sanctions against Iran, a strategic ally of the Chinese Communist Party.
Huawei and ZTE have a reputation of openly collaborating Chinese intelligence agencies. British intelligence agencies were one of the first to point out the potential danger of using Chinese 5g technology equipments. Others in the EU who have to shunned ties with the Chinese companies include French telecom provider Orange who recently declared that it will stop using any Chinese equipments. Germany’s Deutsche Telecom is also reportedly cooperating with security agencies to address their concerns. The company has resisted any move to totally ban Chinese equipments, as T-Mobile Network owned by Deutsche Telecom has entered into a partnership agreement to unroll 5G network in Poland.
. The total ban on Chinese companies is not economically viable either as Chinese 5G market is one of the largest in the world. Any move to ban the companies will raise fears of retaliatory actions by the Chinese government. Telecom industry in EU has a lot at stake here as it tries to gain access to the huge telecom market of the Asian Giant.
Telecom Reports predict the internet traffic to be thirty times more than in last decade by year 2020. 5G Tech will provide a solid base for EU’s one trillion euro digital market. Brussels has already invested 700 million euros in the program Horizon 2020 to promote innovation and research in 5G technology.