Ericsson chief executive dismisses Huawei challenge to disclose source code, saying it creates ‘false sense of security’
- Sweden’s Ericsson is competing with China’s Huawei and Finland’s Nokia in supplying the telecoms gear needed for ultra-fast 5G networks
- Huawei had challenged rivals to subject their equipment to same level of scrutiny and testing as the Chinese firm’s
Ericsson does not believe in the testing of telecommunications equipment after it is being developed to ensure that the gear is secure, its chief executive said, months after Huawei challenged its rivals to subject themselves to regulatory scrutiny and testing.
“We believe that post-development testing and source code disclosure risks creating a false sense of security [for operators],” Börje Ekholm, chief executive of Stockholm-based Ericsson, said at the VivaTech conference in Paris this week.
“End-to-end 5G security was actually factored-in when 5G was designed,” he said, referring to the superfast, next-generation wireless network that will increase speeds by at least 10 times following commercial roll-outs in 2020.
His comments come after Huawei in March urged its rivals to disclose their source code for checks so as to increase transparency on possible security issues.
Huawei, which competes with Ericsson in selling telecommunications gear, is currently the world’s largest telecommunications equipment company. The US Commerce Department this week banned the Chinese group from buying components from American firms without government permission, a move that threatens to cut off the supply of components to the company.