Huawei says open for inspection of facility by any govt

NEW DELHI: Huawei today said it is open for inspection of its facilities by any government, a comment that follows the US House panel warning of cyber espionage threats from two Chinese telecom companies.

"We are very open. You can come and inspect (facilities) anywhere you want to go and see. We work with you and you can do whatever testing you want to do," Huawei's Global Cyber Security Officer John Suffolk told PTI.

He added that company shares its report with some of the government with which it works to meet regulatory requirements.

Suffolk said when there were security guidelines issued by the Indian government, Huawei was even ready to share its softwares code with Indian government.

"We understand the holistic requirement of network security. In 2010, we agreed to share source code (software codes) but other companies refused to do it. The source code is heart of a product. This talks about our intent," Huawei India's Executive Director A Sethuraman said.

Citing analysts, Suffolk said the report of US panel was influenced by upcoming elections in the country.

"The report does not address US perspective of cyber security issues which was need of the report. There is not one single recommendation in it that address issue of Cyber Security issue. It is only about US elections and trade protectionism... number of analysts have said that," Suffolk said.

He said that 70 per cent of the Huawei business comes from outside China and it will be suicidal for company to be involved in to any kind of cyber security issue.

A committee of US lawmakers on intelligence earlier this month warned of cyber espionage threats from telecom networks built by Chinese companies and suggested that American companies considering to do business with Huawei and ZTE should look for other vendors.

In its report, the US House of Representatives' Permanent Committee on Intelligence said the US companies should take into account the long-term security risks associated with two Chinese firms -- Huawei and ZTE -- providing equipment or services to our telecommunications infrastructure.

The panel also recommended that US government systems, particularly sensitive systems, should exclude Huawei or ZTE equipment or component parts.