Tag Archives: telecoms

In a move that shouldn’t surprise anyone, China top networking equipment maker Huawei, which has been working hard to win its first major business in the China-phobic US market, has been rebuffed in its bid for contracts to help upgrade emergency networks in America. This bid was a foolish one to start with, as these networks were already sensitive to begin with for obvious reasons, as many US politicians still see Huawei as an arm of the Chinese government intent on using its networking hardware for spying as well as commercial purposes. (previous post) What’s equally surprising here is that Huawei is now asking the US for an explanation for its rejection (English article; Chinese article), a request that will put the Obama administration in an awkward position just as it’s trying to prepare for a much bigger battle by most likely refusing to sign a bill that has passed in the US Senate that would punish China for manipulating its currency to gain an unfair trade advantage. Perhaps Huawei is trying to show its independence from Beijing with its request, as clearly Beijing would not approve of this kind of distraction amid a much larger and more critical battle over its currency that could affect billions of dollars in trade. But that kind of calculation seems unlikely, and unfortunately this move by Huawei seems more like a very poorly timed effort to make its case that it should be allowed to sell its products into the US the same as any other major commercial telecoms equipment maker. Making the situation worse, Huawei is making its request the year before US presidential elections, which will force the Obama administration to come out with a strong anti-China message to appeal to voters if it chooses to respond to Huawei’s request at all. But more likely the Obama administration will simply ignore Huawei’s request, but may still resent the timing and being put in this kind of an awkward situation. Either way, this kind of action will hardly help Huawei in its effort to win its first major US deals, and now it seems likely that any such contracts won’t come until 2013 after the election at earliest, and possibly even later.

Bottom line: Huawei’s request for explanation of its rejection to help build sensitive US telecoms networks is a foolish move that will only delay its attempts to score its first major US contracts.

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