ABC News is reporting Shenzhen-based Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecoms equipment said it plans to refocus its marketing efforts after being rebuffed by the U.S. ABC notes the company has been regularly stymied from entering the U.S. because of alleged “security concerns.”
Because of this Huawei has failed to find a U.S. carrier for its Smartphones. On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission released a draft order that could potentially damage Huawei’s existing business in network gear.
Back in January, Huawei had to cancel a planned announcement that a major U.S. carrier would sell its smartphones for the first time. No details were given out, but news sources said the carrier was AT&T Inc. AT&T had to bow out of the deal because of pressure from the government.
Since that time, pressures on Huawei have continued to mount, reaching a boiling point when the US Department of Commerce announced a ban on American exports from Chinese phone maker, ZTE, restricting its access to components required for manufacturing.
“It is beyond myself to clearly explain what is going on between the two countries,” Eric Xu, one of the Chinese telecom giant’s three rotating CEOs, said at an annual meeting Shenzhen. He said Huawei will spend more effort serving existing customers, reported the Wall Street Journal earlier this week.
Security concerns or loss of technology?
Both ZTE and Huawei were the subject of a 2012 House Intelligence Committee report that warned U.S. telecom operators not to do business with the companies, saying “they posed a national-security threat.” Both companies have repeatedly denied this. Huawei has tried to be open and transparent in its business dealings in the U.S. but its market has remained minimal, at best.
“What we’ve seen so far suggests that there’s not a lot of concrete evidence that Huawei poses a national security threat,” said Josephine Wolff, Professor of Cybersecurity Policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. “It leads a lot of people to believe that this is more about trying to protect the U.S. tech sector.”
The U.S. is concerned over ZTE and Huawei’s burgeoning 5G research successes. Technologies like expanded transmitting capabilities are seen as crucial for a host of emerging technologies based on artificial intelligence – including self-driving vehicles, robots and other machines that transmit vast amounts of data in real time. That’s why the companies are seen as a threat to U.S. technology companies.
To this end, the U.S. has been talking to officials in Canada and Europe, warning them – suggesting that Huawei’s long-range global prospects could end up hurting them.
“Huawei is perceived differently in Europe but that’s definitely a risk for the company,” said Thomas Husson, principal analyst at technology research firm Forrester. “Let’s not forget Europeans can still try to push in favor of European-based solutions from Nokia or Ericsson.”