While the US banned Huawei for alleged espionage and asked its allies to do the same, Moscow has rolled out the red carpet for the Chinese tech company, letting it develop 5G networks in Russia.
Analysts say the move is as much as a show of solidarity with Beijing against the US as it is a drive to bring ultra high speed internet to Russian tech users.
This month, Huawei opened its first 5G test zone in Moscow in partnership Russian operator MTS with a view to rolling out the service to the rest of the capital and by 2024, to all its main cities.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Russia in June, at the height of Washington’s conflict with Huawei, Russia’s main operator MTS signed a contract with the Chinese company.
CEO of Russia’s branch of Huawei Zhao Lei praised the company’s activities in the country. He said, “We’ve been working in Russia for 22 years. Thanks to our partners, we live well here. Huawei is considered a world leader in 5G technology and plans to lead in the development of 6G in the future”.
In the midst of a trade war and technological rivalry with China, the US has threatened to cut Huawei’s access to the US components and services it needs, such as the Android OS that the company uses on its phones. Russia then promptly stepped in to offer its Aurora OS to the Chinese group.
Russia and China, are trying to break away from the US monopoly over Smartphone operating systems.
As for the espionage risks Washington has warned of, Russia is hardly worried.
Evgeny Khorov, the head of the Wireless Network Lab at Russia’s Academy of Sciences said,” Many people use Android phones whose system is designated by Google. Does this mean that Google has access to all the data? Yes, of course. So, what’s the difference between Huawei and Google in this case?
Culled from : The Punch