Pacific Islands plans to remove Huawei equipment in favor of U.S. undersea cables

Pacific Islands is looking for the replacement of Huawei equipment in favor of U.S. undersea cables. The region has to ensure protected digital security before joining hands with the U.S. authorities and using their technologies or other services.

According to the information, a senior U.S. State Department official – Nathaniel Fick strictly warned the Pacific Islands nations to secure their digital ecosystem and remove Huawei equipment to utilize the undersea cables and win the deal.

On the flip side, he made a tour to Fiji this week to verify which of the islands will take part in the undersea cable connection. Here also, the executive cited that these countries must ensure that their connecting cables are safe ‘from end to end’.

Notably, this statement mentioned that the U.S. authorities don’t want any Chinese-built data centers or phone towers amid their new development.

“Investing a lot of money in these nodes is going to require these states to behave in some ways that mitigate the risk, to the greatest possible extent. It’s going to be in their interests to do that if they want to be trusted nodes for the long haul and attract continued investment.” – said Fick to reporters.

So far, the U.S. planned funding of two undersea cables from Google. One of these will link the U.S. territory of Guam with hubs in Fiji and French Polynesia. Meanwhile, the other will run across the remote areas in the Pacific Islands.

It is worth mentioning that the Pacific Islands consist of several telecom network services and towers built by Huawei and ZTE equipment. Yet, to comply with the U.S. regulations, the region has to replace these facilities which would surely cost a huge amount.

(Source)