Now Japan considers ban on Huawei and ZTE networking hardware

Move by Japanese government would follow Australian government ban on the grounds of security

The Japanese government is considering a 5G ban on Huawei and ZTE communications equipment on security grounds.

The news comes just a week after the Australian government introduced such a ban - without naming the two companies - which drew threats of retaliation from China's Ministry of Commerce, amid even more threatening language in China's state-controlled press.

The US, meanwhile, has already barred Huawei and ZTE hardware, including networking equipment and smartphones, from public-sector IT systems, and put pressure on major US telecoms companies not to deploy Huawei and ZTE hardware in their networks.

According to Japanese business newspaper Sankei Shimbun, the ban is under consideration at the highest levels of government. Like the Australian move, the Japanese ban wouldn't name Huawei and ZTE but would establish strict security criteria that would effectively bar the two companies.

Huawei is the world's biggest supplier of mobile network infrastructure, ahead of Ericsson and Nokia, while ZTE has been overtaken by Samsung after it was hit with a US Department of Commerce embargo over claims it reneged on a deal struck in 2017 over busting sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

ZTE, though, claims that following a new deal with the US government its production is back to normal and that it will resume growth in the next financial year.

Huawei, meanwhile, claimed sales of $4.4 billion in Japan last year, up by one-third on the previous year. It also employs around 950 people in Japan.

5G is a big issue for the Japanese government, with the country's mobile telecoms operators under pressure to roll-out the technology in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.