Australia's new communications minister will review the government-imposed ban on Huawei's involvement in the National Broadband Network project.
The minister, Senator Malcolm Turnbull, toldFairfax Media he considers Huawei to be a “very credible business” and that he will discuss whether the state-owned NBN Co should be allowed to procure equipment from the vendor.
But any decision could take some time to resolve, considering the four separate reviews of the NBN project that have already been scheduled.
The recently-ousted former Labor government imposed a banon Huawei tendering for NBN projects last year citing national security concerns.
Because the ban came at a time when US lawmakers were publicly expressing national security concerns over what they alleged were Huwaei's links to the Chinese military, some pundits suggested that the Australian ban may have been more motivated by diplomacy than any security fears. The US House Intelligence Committee subsequently recommended that US operators refrain from buying Huawei equipment.
Huawei has since embarked on a PR offensive in Australia. Moves included setting up an Australian board and electing some high-profile Australian figures. The company recently revealed its experiment with a local board has been so successful it plans to export the model to other markets.
o involvement in surveillance programs from any government