The U.S. restricts Huawei in 5G, but Wi-Fi is up for grabs.
The US and other countries restrict Huawei in 5G (even providing funding to “rip and replace” the equipment), but this does not stop the company from deploying in Wi-Fi networks. Once a device is deployed in Wi-Fi, it can’t be forcibly recalled for security reasons. Huawei touts its role in Wi-Fi 6, considered the future-proofing strategy for the Wi-Fi industry. The Austin-based Wi-Fi Alliance recently honored top tier member Huawei for its leadership in the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ program, allowing its products to be embossed with the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal. The advocacy group recently congratulated Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai for the April 23 vote to designate 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use, quintupling the spectrum for technologies such as Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi Alliance did not respond to a request for comment.
Unlicensed spectrum is celebrated for being free and open to anyone, and the Wi-Fi industry plans to deploy hundreds of millions of connected devices in the 6 GHz band. However, providers of critical infrastructure services in public safety, communications, rail, electric, gas, water, and wastewater are not enthused; they operate some 100,000 fixed service links in the band, over which the forthcoming Wi-Fi devices would be deployed. Failing to forestall the FCC’s proposal which they say threatens the safety of their networks, they urged the FCC to adopt greater controls to mitigate interference, as regulating power levels for transmission is insufficient to protect existing networks. For example, many homes have backyards that border a railroad, and the signal for their Wi-Fi router, even at low power, can be observed outside. This means that a device need not have a security vulnerability to threaten critical infrastructure, to say nothing of deliberate security vulnerabilities.
The FCC may have denied China Mobile license to operate in the US for national security concerns, but its daughter company China Mobile Group Device Co. can access US networks through America’s standards organizations and its Wi-Fi networks. Indeed China’s influence of international standards organizations to circumvent national security policy is well established area of policy research.
Among the 800 members of the Wi-Fi Alliance are many firms owned and affiliated with the Chinese government and listed in the US National Vulnerabilities Database, restricting their use in the federal government. These member firms include Wi-Fi Alliance honoree Lenovo, world’s leading maker of laptops, ZTE Corporation (network equipment), Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (surveillance cameras), Lexmark (printers), and TCL Corporation (smart TVs). My report Stealing from the States: China’s Power Play in IT Contracts documents how such companies have evaded rules against their deployment in US federal networks to embed themselves at the state level, home to treasure troves of sensitive data for elections, financial reports, and personal information but which have fewer security controls.
The bipartisan sanction of Huawei by Congress, the Department of Commerce, the FCC and other agencies may have stopped Huawei from federal networks and 5G, but it doesn’t necessarily stop Huawei in state government, private companies, and Wi-Fi networks. Indeed, many vulnerable technologies proliferate where there are not explicit restrictions. Moreover, federal bans do not stop Chinese government-owned companies from playing important roles in US standard setting and IT advocacy organizations. Following placement on the Entity List, Huawei was ejected but then quickly reinstated as a member at the Wi-Fi Alliance, IEEE, SD Association, and JEDEC. Some claim there is no choice but to accept Chinese government owned vendors in standards groups, but China’s endgame is clear: It has long been architecting an alternative version of the internet which does not include American technology nor any pretense of coexistence.
While the value of Wi-Fi is undisputed, the FCC’s proposal would give restricted Chinese firms free rein to a wide swath of spectrum overlaying critical infrastructure for utilities, transportation and public safety.
Moreover, the US is behind on licensing mid-band spectrum where malicious vendors and devices can be excluded. China has some 500 MHz of mid-band spectrum in play for 5G, the US hasn’t even concluded its mid-band 5G auctions, itself a national security issue raised by two dozen security and defense experts. If we don’t want Huawei in 5G, it shouldn’t be in Wi-Fi either.