The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Aliv’s top executive “can’t praise highly enough” its Chinese technology supplier despite the ongoing controversy over whether it should be allowed to build 5G mobile networks in the US and UK.

Damian Blackburn told Tribune Business that the Bahamian mobile provider was monitoring the highly-charged political debate over Huawei’s involvement in these countries, but said this had not impacted its relationship with the Chinese firm “at the moment”.

Huawei supplied the key technological components for Aliv’s two-year nationwide network build-out, while also providing the start-up operator with vendor lease financing to enable it to acquire some of its equipment.

Mr Blackburn, though, said this financing had subsequently been assigned to financial institutions. He added that Aliv would “review all factors” when it came to selecting vendors for future expansions, including the potential move to 5G itself.

Huawei’s business has come under intense political and diplomatic pressure in recent weeks, especially from the Trump administration, which has been pressuring its allies to ban the Chinese company from participating in the build-out of their 5G mobile network infrastructure.

The US is basing its arguments on security concerns, arguing that Huawei technology could open a “backdoor” for the Chinese government to conduct spying, surveillance and even cyber attacks on nations – pointing to the fact Chinese companies are compelled to work with their country’s intelligence and security services.

The US and Australia have blocked Huawei from any role in their networks, while Theresa May, the UK prime minister, last week said the company would only be permitted to supply “non-core” parts there.

Huawei and the Chinese government have been pushing back against this offensive, and several observers believe it has less to do with security concerns and is more about US efforts to retain its economic dominance and thwart China’s challenge – the ongoing “tariff war” between the two countries over trade being another aspect of this battle.

Mr Blackburn, too, alluded to this, telling Tribune Business the issue was more about Huawei’s market-leading dominance of 5G technology and whether countries would accept it held the “road map” keys to this evolution.

“Not at the moment is the simple answer,” he replied, when asked by this newspaper whether the ongoing controversy and US pressures would force Aliv to alter or reassess its relationship with Huawei.

“We’re obviously keeping a close on what different countries are doing in that regard,” he added. “I was in the UK for the last couple of weeks, and following very closely the debate going on there. I believe the review they’re undertaking in the UK is due in the next few weeks..”

Referring to the “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing partnership between the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand, Mr Blackburn added: “Canada has not taken a decision as yet. That’s probably as relevant to us as any.”

Pointing to the UK’s close relationship with Huawei since 2005, Mr Blackburn said security experts had already cast doubt on the “backdoor” concerns being promoted by the Trump administration.

“The backdoor argument is not necessarily the argument that is the real debate,” he added. “The real debate, in my opinion, is about the road map to 5G and Huawei’s dominance of that road map.

“Huawei, based on all learned analysis of the situation, are very far ahead in terms of the relevant equipment they have for the market on 5G and their scale of research and development.”

Countries that elected not to go with Huawei thus faced the possibility that they may be “left behind in terms of their speed and ability to adopt 5G”, Mr Blackburn added.

In Aliv’s case, Huawei supplied key network components for its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) 4.5G infrastructure. Mr Blackburn pledged that the Bahamian mobile operator will always “carefully review” its options at “big adoption points” such as the leap to 5G technology.

“We’re delighted with what we’ve achieved with Huawei equipment, and couldn’t praise them highly enough in terms of what they’ve delivered for us, our customers and the Bahamas in terms of the change in wireless mobile experience,” he told Tribune Business.

“Aliv’s network is unbelievably reliable because of Huawei network equipment, and produces fast data speeds. Dropped calls are very few, three in 10,000. The resiliency built into Huawei’s network and equipment is second to none.

“We’re delighted with what Huwaei brought to Aliv, but as with everything, if we’re making a major decision with 5G we will review all factors at the time.”

Mr Blackburn said Bahamian engineers had worked alongside their Huawei counterparts on the Aliv network built-out, and that the Chinese company was selected only after a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

“Included in that proposal was the ability to pay for equipment over a period of time,” he added, explaining that Huawei’s offer of vendor financing was normal – especially for a “greenfield roll-out” such as Aliv’s.

“We contracted with Huawei for the initial lease financing, and once Aliv got up and running we assigned the lease financing to major financial institutions. The whole Huawei debate around the US, UK and that, there’s no link at all with the financing of Aliv as it’s all with other financial institutions.”