WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s national security team is looking atoptions to counter the threat of China spying on U.S. phone calls thatinclude the government building a super-fast 5G wireless network, a senioradministration official said on Sunday.
The official, confirming the gist of a report from Axios.com, said theoption was being debated at a low level in the administration and was sixto eight months away from being considered by the president himself.
The 5G network concept is aimed at addressing what officials see as China’sthreat to U.S. cyber security and economic security.
The Trump administration has taken a harder line on policies initiated bypredecessor Barack Obama on issues ranging from Beijing’s role inrestraining North Korea to Chinese efforts to acquire U.S. strategicindustries.
This month AT&T was forced to scrap a plan to offer its customers handsetsbuilt by China’s Huawei after some members of Congress lobbied against theidea with federal regulators, sources told Reuters.
In 2012, Huawei and ZTE Corp were the subject of a U.S. investigation intowhether their equipment provided an opportunity for foreign espionage andthreatened critical U.S. infrastructure.
Some members of the House intelligence committee remain troubled bysecurity threats posed by Huawei and ZTE, according to a congressional aide.
Issues raised in a 2012 committee report about the Chinese firms have“never subsided,” the aide said, adding that there was newer classifiedintelligence that recently resurfaced those concerns.
In Beijing on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunyingsaid China prohibited all forms of hacking, but did not specificallyaddress the 5G network security issue.
“We believe that the international community should, on the basis of mutualrespect and trust, strengthen dialogue and cooperation and join hands inaddressing the threat of cyber attacks,” Hua told a regular news briefing.
Major wireless carriers have spent billions of dollars buying spectrum tolaunch 5G networks, and it is unclear if the U.S. government would haveenough spectrum to build its own 5G network.
Furthermore, Accenture has estimated that wireless operators will invest asmuch as $275 billion in the United States over seven years as they buildout 5G.
A 5G network is expected to offer significantly faster speeds, morecapacity and shorter response times, which could be utilized for newtechnologies ranging from self-driving cars to remote surgeries. Telecomcompanies and their suppliers consider it to be a multibillion-dollarrevenue opportunity.