Chinese telco Huawei tries to shake off spy image after NBN ban
Updated
The Chinese company blocked from working on Australia's National Broadband Network has set its sights on shaking off its image as a stalking horse for Chinese spies.
Telecommunications giant Huawei was banned from tendering for the network as Australia followed the lead of a similar government ban in the United States due to espionage fears.
The company, based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, has refuted claims by the US House Intelligence Committee that the company could potentially build so-called "backdoors" into the likes of the NBN to allow for Chinese eavesdropping.
The committee claimed Huawei could even shut down such a system remotely during a time of war.
But the company's corporate senior vice president, Chen Lifang, says that even if her company wanted to use its technology to secretly eavesdrop, it could not.
"It's impossible for Huawei to install any backdoors or vulnerabilities into our products. This is not only verified by ourselves but also third parties," she said.
"No-one has ever found any security breaches within Huawei's products. Never. And it's impossible for us to do it."
The company, which also makes smart phones, modems and other consumer goods, has pointed out that while it was prohibited from working on the NBN, competitors who are rolling out the NBN have been producing key components in China.
Coalition to review decision to ban Huawei from NBN
Huawei may have been prohibited from building the NBN, but Britain's spies have already cleared the company to built its broadband network.
In Australia, Huawei is supplying mobile phone infrastructure for Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, causing observers to question why this is allowed but building the NBN is not.
All this has led to Coalition communication spokesman Malcolm Turnbull to pledge that it will reconsider the Huawei NBN ban if it wins office.
"We'll review it in light of the full security briefing that is only available to government," he said.
Despite the controversy surrounding Huawei, its growth has been huge with 2012 profits up by 33 per cent.
The company only started selling smartphones two years ago.
Last year it sold 32 million of them and this year it is forecast to reach 60 million.
Ms Lifang says contract bans in Australia and the US would not affect its clients.
"Our clients won't lost their faith in Huawei because of some politicians' accusations about us," she said.
"We've been working with our customers for 25 years and this mutual trust won't be destroyed by some bad words by just one or two people."
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