back to article Huawei won a contract in Oz. Of course there's a whispering campaign

Huawei has won another sizeable contract, this time in Australia, and with it come the all-too-common accusations that the company is a national security risk. The contract in question is an LTE-based 1800MHz rail radio network worth AU$136m (£76.4m) for the State of Western Australia's Public Transport Authority (PTA). Huawei …

  1. eldakka
    Coat

    but when the trains stop, someone's bound to notice.

    Maybe after a couple weeks of no-service, otherwise people will just thank "bah, trains just late again, I'll take the bus/taxi".

    1. Phil Kingston

      Re: but when the trains stop, someone's bound to notice.

      To be fair, this is just the comms network. From what i hear on their services it's mainly used to alert drivers to traffic jams, that Jonno's left his wallet on their bus or other mundane chatter.

  2. Nick Kew

    Hmm, this reporter evidently isn't in Blighty, where the trains have been kind-of stopped for months now. Is there an evil government (other than our own) we can blame?

    Does Oz have a problem with other Chinese suppliers of IT/comms kit? And on a slightly similar note, are they on the anti-Kaspersky bandwagon?

  3. EnviableOne

    Come on People, if Huawei were so inclined there kit routes all the calls in BT's core network, including those in and out of a certain building in westminster beside the thames, so the Western OZ PTA is nothing to worry about

  4. mhenriday
    Boffin

    If one can't compete on price and performance,

    one can always appeal to «national security»....

    Henri

  5. onefang
    Facepalm

    "the Australian National University, the ABC reports, has suffered a breach, but it's worked hard to avoid letting the attackers know they've been detected"

    If the attackers follow ABC news, they might have figured out they've been detected by now.

  6. Rockets

    Mixed Messages

    The Aus Federal Government is really sending mixed messages here. Huawei bad for NBN & 5G but fine for rail projects. Hmmm don't know what to think. I know I see alot of companies deploying Huawei Enterprise routing & switching gear in Western Australia. So companies seem fine to the "risk".

    Then there's another part to this story about how Huawei won the contract. Did free all expenses trips & gifts to government ministers when in opposition help grease the wheels?

    https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wa/wa-government-denies-conflict-over-huawei-trip-ng-b88893766z

    1. Tannin

      Re: Mixed Messages

      Two different governments. Rail is a state responsibility.

      1. Rockets

        Re: Mixed Messages

        But the state Government ran the ability to use Huawei past the Feds twice. Both times the Feds gave the OK.

        1. Adam 1

          Re: Mixed Messages

          And remind me who the feds sold Darwin's port to?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Mixed Messages

            The Feds didn't, that was Adam Giles, Chief Minister of the time. It was a surprise to the electorate as well.

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