They're 'clean': SoftBank gets thumbs-up from Uncle Sam for keeping Chinese gear off its Japanese 5G network
- Reference: 1597928293
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/08/20/softbank_clean_network/
- Source link:
Introduced earlier this month by the State Department, the Clean Network programme is an attempt to protect American technological interests by [1]limiting the usage of equipment and software from vendors perceived to have ties to unfriendly state adversaries. Critics argue it's a cynical attempt to sideline competition from Chinese tech companies in favour of US outfits.
In the case of SoftBank, this Clean Network badge has been awarded for excluding any kit made by China's homegrown vendors, including Huawei and ZTE, from its next generation network.
On the RAN Front, SoftBank uses kit from Ericsson and Nokia, with the latter providing its AirScale 5G hardware. In July, the Japanese telco selected Ericsson to provide the infrastructure required for the cloud-native 5G standalone core network.
FCC: Remember that confidential paperwork you gave us, China Telecom? Yeah, well, we're handing it over to the Feds [2]READ MORE
In a statement, SoftBank welcomed the news, saying it was "pleased to be recognized as a 5G Clean Telecommunications company by the US Department of State".
It added: "SoftBank Corp fully supports the Clean Network initiative of the US Department of State, and will endeavor to build out 5G Clean Networks that use secure equipment from trusted network vendors."
The US Clean Network programme encompasses five pillars touching on cloud, mobile, carrier, and cable supply chain security. Clean Cloud, for example, seeks to stop sensitive data being stored on servers provided by the likes of Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent.
The Clean Apps and Clean Store principles prioritise removing "untrusted" apps from US app stores and urging American developers to refrain from publishing on platforms like the Huawei App Gallery. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/06/usa_clean_network_plan/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/19/fcc_china_telecom/
[3] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Back to the drawing board I guess...
Just when you think you're clean, you get the USA thumbs up :-(
Sounds like something from the Ministry of Fun!
You couldn't really make this stuff up: "Clean Cloud", "Clean Network", etc As if personal data breaches aren't a daily occurrence on the interadnet!
And it's not as if the Japanese were ever going to use Chinese networking gear in their networks anyway.
Re: Sounds like something from the Ministry of Fun!
And giving out awards for it has a kind of elementary school - level appeal. Like Scout badges or something.
It may be better for global security if everyone kept USA gear off their networks (NSA/CIA et-al)
Why not both?
I second that motion
Let's have an EU Clean Network program, where no piece of equipment is beholden to any foreign state government. So it'll have to be Ericsson everywhere, I guess.
Oh, and can we please get rid of NSA listening posts on our side of international fiber links ?
When it comes to 5G, what USA gear?
Why woud they give a f?
Why would SoftBank Japan give a flying f*** if their network meets some protectionist US standard or not? To be clear, the network in question is in Japan, and Softbank does not have any network in the US (i.e. no US presence for nutjob Trump to use as leverage.) I'm just honestly wondering what the point is of letting the state dept. sniff around your in-no-way-US-based network to begin with.
Avoid a digital Pearl Harbor
By having the Japanese run all your DoD networks.