Huawei Technologies will not compete with mobile phone operators the Prime Minister said this morning as he lectured on the possibilities created by 5G mobile technology.

Joseph Muscat defended the opening of an office by Huawei, a Chinese global technology provider, at Smart City, insisting he could not understand the Opposition’s decision to denigrate everything.

Huawei signed a memorandum of understanding with the government last week to explore the possibility of testing 5G technology in Malta. Criticism ensued because no value was put to the investment and the small office only employed a handful of people.

But Dr Muscat said the signing of the agreement was a first for Huawei in Europe with a government and would serve to open the door for more investment. “It opens possibilities for the future.”

He allayed fears that Huawei would compete with established providers Vodafone, Go and Melita, insisting the Chinese company’s competitors were firms like Apple, Nokia and Blackberry.

“The communication providers are glad to have Huawei here because it could use their platforms to test 5G,” Dr Muscat said during an interview on One Radio.

He then explained that 5G was the mobile technology of the future when home appliances would “talk to each other”.

But Huawei will also consider opening a data recovery centre to back up their operations in other countries, Dr Muscat added.

Touching briefly on government’s decision to open a consulate in Shanghai, Dr Muscat said China was a massive country and Malta had been the only European country operating just from an embassy in Beijing.

“Other results will be coming soon from China and I am positive about them,” he said without giving details.

The Prime Minister spoke about the economic results of the past two years and the recent positive outlook delivered by the rating agency Standard and Poor’s.

Speaking about the party financing law that made it past committee stage in Parliament last week, Dr Muscat said it was “hypocritical” of the Opposition to pontificate on what it believes are defects of the law. “In 25 years [in government] they [the Nationalist Party] never passed such a law and found every excuse not to enact it,” Dr Muscat said, adding he could not understand the criticism levelled at the Electoral Commission as the overseer of party finances.

 

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