Huawei has been in the crosshairs of the United States authorities for the past few months, and it also led to the ban on the Chinese tech giant’s telecommunication equipment in the country. Needless to say, American telecom behemoth AT&T would not be able to use its equipment when it comes to its own networks, but its chief executive officer raised another concern regarding Huawei equipment in Europe. The Chinese company is the dominant telecom equipment supplier in Europe, and the CEO of AT&T Randall Stephenson said that the equipment supplied by Huawei does not offer any degree of interoperability at all.
According to him, the lack of interoperability is a big concern and even more so as much of the world is now trying to switch to 5G from 4G over the next few years. Speaking at an event in San Francisco, Stephenson said,
Huawei does not facilitate interoperability from 4G to 5G other than their own networks. How comfortable are you if you’re a senior person in one of these countries that that much of your infrastructure that’s underpinning this much of our social interaction is being supplied by — I don’t care if it’s Huawei — but by a Chinese company?
The United States government has accused that Huawei’s telecom equipment is used by the Chinese government to spy on other countries and while the company has vehemently denied the charges, it has not stopped the US authorities from banning the company’s equipment from the country.
However, that is not all, and the US has gone so far as to warn key allies all over the world from not allowing Huawei to supply equipment for their 5G networks. It has created extreme problems for Huawei, which has been asked by many governments from providing proof that its equipment did not violate the privacy of citizens. In light of these events, Huawei eventually sued the US government in a court in Texas, and it is believed that once the proceedings start, more information will come to light regarding the government’s specific concerns regarding the Chinese company.
Huawei’s dominance in the telecom equipment market had been a matter of concern for some time and following these sanctions. Other equipment providers are expected to fill up the void quickly. Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung are some of the biggest names that are all set to become dominant players in the US following the ban on Huawei.
