Possibility of abandoning Chinese telecommunications equipment is being discussed, - NSDC
The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine has started discussing the possibility of refusing the use of equipment manufactured in China by Ukrainian telecom operators.
As Censor.NET informs, with reference to Interfax-Ukraine, this was reported by the head of the information security department of the information security and cyber security service of the NSDC apparatus Volodymyr Zverev at the conference "Ukraine: stability of communication and the Internet during war".
"Currently, the discussion stage is ongoing. This is important because there are risks, and our decision-making is based on risk-oriented discussions. I think it is very right that there is a discussion, so we are waiting," said Zverev.
In his opinion, restrictions on the use of Chinese telecom equipment will mostly affect those operators that work with state networks and/or are connected to state structures.
"But it is necessary to calculate all this and see how it will affect the result. Therefore, options are possible when stricter requirements will be applied to operators working with state networks or connected to state institutions," Zverev believes.
The director of the department for the development of fixed Internet "Mitsifry" Yurii Matsyk also confirmed that the ministry received a request from the National Security Council regarding the possible ban of Chinese equipment initiated by the parliamentary committee. According to him, two ways are possible: a ban on the purchase of new equipment with the right to use the existing one and a requirement to replace the Chinese-made equipment that is already there.
"It is necessary to understand how much it will cost and who will be able to finance it, because these are huge resources," commented the representative of the Ministry of Digital Affairs on the second option. According to him, replacing the telecom equipment that is already working will cost more than $1 billion.
He also noted that, in fact, during every meeting with Europeans and Americans who are considering the issue of providing aid to Ukraine, the question arises: "what about the equipment of Chinese manufacturers?".
"They don't say whether it's possible or not, but for some reason they have recently started to ask about it more and more often. Accordingly, if this issue is being formed, it means that this issue worries people. Accordingly, that is why the question arises in the NSDC, how to deal with it and what to do," Matsyk explained.
In an interview with the publication dev.ua on Friday, he noted that the Chinese state-owned ZTE and private Huawei equipment accounted for approximately 70% of the equipment of some mobile operators, and maybe even more.
