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US report on Huawei, ZTE raises concerns in VN

US report on Huawei, ZTE raises concerns in VN

Tuesday, October 09, 2012, 10:39 GMT+7

A draft report composed by the US House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee stating that two of China's top telecoms gear makers, Huawei and ZTE, should be shut out of the US market due to a potential security threat has raised concerns in Vietnam, where the firm’s telecom devices are widely used. The committee, which conducted an 11-month investigation on the Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp, advised that US intelligence must stay focused on efforts by the two to expand in the United States, and tell the private sector as much as possible about the purported espionage threat, according to Reuters. Huawei is the world's second-biggest maker of routers, switches and telecom equipment by revenue after Sweden's Ericsson, while ZTE ranks fifth, Reuters said. The committee panel cited in the draft released Monday what it called long-term security risks supposedly linked with the companies' equipment and services. These are the results of credible allegations it received from unnamed industry experts as well as current and former Huawei employees, the panel told Reuters. The draft suggests that, based on classified and unclassified information, Huawei and ZTE, "cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence and thus pose a security threat to the United States and to our systems.” "U.S. network providers and system developers are strongly encouraged to seek other vendors for their projects," the committee was quoted by Reuters as saying.Rampant in Vietnam The Vietnamese telecom market is currently flooded by Huawei and ZTE devices, with the 3G USB being the most typical example, as it is supplied by all of the top mobile operators in the country. The devices, used to connect to a 3G network, all bear the brand names of MobiFone, Vinaphone, Viettel, and Vietnamobile, but they are in fact products of either Huawei or ZTE. Products with the Chinese firms’ own brand names are also available at cheap prices in mobile phone and computer shops across the country.

A woman is pictured holding four 3G USBs manufactured by China's Huawei and ZTE. Tuoi Tre

Vietnam currently has some eight million 3G users who connect via USB, with Huawei and ZTE accounting for most of the market, according to figures from the Ministry of Information and Communications. The country’s top three service providers, Mobifone, Vinaphone, and Viettel, also use other input – output and infrastructure devices manufactured by the Chinese firms. A mobile operator admitted to using Huawei gear, but added that all of the equipment passed quality and security tests prior to their import. The anonymous operator added that each of the service providers has “their own method to ensure national security.”Espionage threats If the telecom end-user or infrastructure devices are equipped with espionage tools, users will have the information they exchange via the mobile phones or 3G USB stolen, said Nguyen Minh Duc, security director of Bkav, an antivirus and security solution provider. The infrastructure of the mobile network operators can also be interfered with, and could thus affect national security, he warned. “It’s also not easy to detect the espionage as the spy software is not installed in the devices during manufacturing, but when users upgrade or update the devices,” he said. Meanwhile Vo Do Thang, director of the internet security center Arena, urged that the government summon security experts to form a board to investigate the devices made by Huawei and ZTE. “Espionage is very dangerous for the information privacy of telecom users, as well as national security,” he said.

Tuoi Tre

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