Huawei still banned from Australia's broadband project

China's telecom giant Huawei on Friday confirmed that the ban by Australian government on Huawei from participating the National Broadband Network (NBN) project continues, saying it was "extremely disappointed" with the decision.

At the same time, Prime Minister Tony Abbott also reportedly reiterated his promise of the ban to the country's opposition leader.

In an internal letter obtained by Xinhua, Huawei Australia Chairman John Lord told his 700 staff to "hold their heads up high," saying they should be proud of this company.

"We are extremely disappointed with this decision... Huawei's business in Australia has never been dependent on the NBN. Despite the NBN decision, last year was our most successful year to date and today Huawei's Australian business is bigger than ever," Lord said in the letter.

He also said that the Australian government's decision is the exception, not the rule.

"Huawei is building eight of the nine NBNs around the world, including the UK, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and more. These countries have not embraced Huawei cautiously, they have embraced us with open arms," said the chairman.

Huawei Australia was banned by the former Labor government earlier last year from tendering in the NBN project over security reasons.

The country's Attorney-General George Brandis on Tuesday issued a statement which indicated that the government would uphold the ban since Huawei hadn't persuaded the Australian intelligence agencies for the security concerns.

The previous government's decision to ban Huawei from tendering for the NBN was based on the national security agencies' advice, Brandis told media.

Brandis's statement was an obvious shock to the Chinese company who said over half of Australians already use a Huawei product for parts of their daily telecommunications needs, because Australian Communication Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Trade Minister Andrew Robb recently showed support publicly to review the ban, raising hope the controversial policy would be relaxed.

Just two days after the remarks, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott reportedly ruled out any involvement by Huawei in the NBN plan.

According to the local daily The Australian, Abbott sent a letter to the opposition leader Bill Shorten, saying "his government has not intention of reviewing the decision of the previous government."

"As you are aware, this decision was made on national security grounds based on security agency assessments which remain current," Abbott added.

On condition of anonymity, a local analyst working for one of the two major Australian media groups told Xinhua that the current conservative government's decision would give a big blow to the relation with its major trading partner China when the two countries were struggling to reach a free trade agreement (FTA), which Abbott hoped for success in a year.

"This is really not that friendly and China should think about showing more toughness this time," he said.