Huawei, a Chinese manufacturing giant is currently not in the good books of the American government. The U.S. believes that Huawei’s equipment (especially 5G) poses a security risk. However, Huawei has vehemently denied these claims. Nevertheless, the U.S. has gone ahead to ban Huawei, a decision that is hurting the company in some regards. The U.S did not just ban Huawei, it is convincing whoever cares to listen to do the same. To this end, some U.S loyalists like Australia and others have already banned Huawei from their 5G network. While some have approved Huawei, others like the U.K are still hanging on a balance.
A recent report from a “Sao Paulo” newspaper claims that the US government is willing to fund Brazilian operators. Brazil is a major market in South America and it will seamlessly opt for Huawei’s cheaper and more sophisticated equipment. The report claims that the U.S. has a proposal to fund Brazilian operators to buy 5G equipment from Ericsson and Nokia. This is an effort to persuade allies not to use Chinese suppliers’ equipment.
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The assistance will be provided by IDFC, the US Ambassador to Brazil, Todd Chapman said in an interview. This is a government-run bank that invests in energy, healthcare, critical infrastructure, and technology projects to promote national interests. According to him, discussions are ongoing with officials from Brazil and other countries.
The latest move by the U.S. to ground Huawei 5G equipment
This is the latest move by the U.S to pressure its allies on the grounds of “national security concerns” to exclude Huawei from their telecommunications networks.
In October 2019, foreign media reported that US officials considered funding Ericsson and Nokia to enable them to offer more attractive terms to potential customers. Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, said this week that the government will consider security and foreign policy and economic factors when formulating a 5G strategy.
As of now, Huawei can not do business with American companies. Its new smartphones since the beginning of last year can not use Google Mobile Services. This means that they can not have access to Google Play Store and all its apps. The likes of Gmail, Google Maps and other essential Google Apps will not also work. This ban obviously hurt Huawei’s business outside China. However, the company still shipped about 240 million smartphones in 2019, a record high. Will the U.S. lift the ban on Huawei soon? Probably not, the American government recently extended the ban to non-American companies that uses American technology.
