LONDON: Britain publicly chastised China鈥檚 Huawei Technologies for failing to fix long-standing security flaws in its mobile network equipment and revealed new 鈥渟ignificant technical issues,鈥� increasing pressure on the company as it battles Western allegations that Beijing could use its gear for spying.
In a report published on Thursday, the government-led board that oversees vetting of Huawei gear in Britain said continued problems with the company鈥檚 software development had brought 鈥渟ignificantly increased risk to UK operators.鈥�
The board 鈥� which includes officials from Britain鈥檚 GCHQ communications intelligence agency 鈥� said in the report that the company had made 鈥渘o material progress鈥� addressing security flaws and it didn鈥檛 have confidence in Huawei鈥檚 capacity to deliver on proposed measures to address 鈥渦nderlying defects.鈥�
The unusually direct criticism is a fresh blow to the world鈥檚 largest maker of mobile network equipment, which has been under intense scrutiny in recent months.
Officials in the United States and elsewhere have been increasingly public in voicing their concerns that Huawei鈥檚 equipment could be used by Beijing for spying or sabotage, particularly as operators move to the next generation of mobile networks, known as 5G.
Shenzhen-based Huawei said in a statement said it takes the oversight board鈥檚 concerns 鈥渧ery seriously鈥� and that the issues identified in the report 鈥減rovide vital input for the ongoing transformation of our software engineering capabilities.鈥�