AT&T pulls out of deal to distribute Huawei phones in the US

[midian182]

At CES today, Chinese manufacturer Huawei was expected to announce a partnership with AT&T to distribute its devices in the US. But the telecoms carrier has called off the deal at the last minute.

It’s not clear why AT&T pulled out, but it could be related to “political pressure,” according to The Information. “Given the fierce trade competition between China and the US, and the fact that both Huawei and AT&T are key infrastructure services providers in their respective countries, AT&T’s last minute decision to back off the deal with Huawei was foreseeable,” Li Yi, chief fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences internet research centre, told the South China Morning Post.

Huawei’s excellent Mate 10 Pro handset, which is being advertised across Las Vegas right now, was rumored to arrive on AT&T’s network in either January or February. The company was said to be negotiating with Verizon, too, though we don’t know if the phone will now launch on any other carriers.

Huawei Mate 10 pictured below, read our review

You can already buy unlocked Huawei devices online and in some retail stores in the US, so it’s likely that the Mate 10 Pro will also be made available. But a carrier deal would have helped push the company's products in the States.

Despite being the third-largest smartphone manufacturer behind Samsung and Apple, Huawei has struggled to make a big impact in the US. This is partly due to a 2012 House Intelligence Committee report that warned carriers not to do deals with the firm because of the influence China has over it, which could pose a threat to US security.

“Last month, members of the Senate and House intelligence committees sent a letter asking the Federal Communications Commission to review any relationship with Huawei and requested that the FCC get briefed on the security concerns raised in 2012. The letter also raised concerns about Huawei’s growing smartphone business,” writes the Wall Street Journal.

In a statement to the publication, top Huawei executive Ken Hu denied that the company is “a vehicle for any government or any agency of putting surveillance on another country.”

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https://www.techspot.com/news/72658-att-pulls-out-deal-distribute-huawei-phones-us.html

 

[p51d007]

What phones AREN'T made in China? They may have Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG or whatever, but you can bet the bulk of them came from China anyway. I'm guessing Apple/Samsung put pressure on at&t, since when you walk into one of their stores, that's about all you see.

 

[seeprime]

This decision, IMO, is supposed to show concern over the trade imbalance and importing from China. One token company is named. Everything else continues to arrive from China. We need to begin returning these automated factories back home.

 

[Capaill]

As someone who has worked in the telecoms sector for 2 decades, we have always known that Huawei has strong ties to both the Chinese government and military. Many Chinese companies do. They are like an unstoppable juggernaut towards world domination - all the Western world can do is try to slow them down and discourage operators from buying Chinese products. In the meantime, they have taken over most Asian and African markets and are finally getting into Western markets.
According to GSMA, Europe and North America account for just 15% of the world's mobile subscribers. Of the top 10 global mobile phone brands, 7 are Chinese and 2 are Korean.
Most would agree that the latest Chinese phones are generally excellent, offering high performance at a low price. They are doing it by copying the best that everyone else has to offer and committing massive resources to being better, with full government backing. You can try to ignore (or fear) China all you want but you can't ignore that they will eventually be the world number 1 if the Western world doesn't adapt, not just in phones but in many areas like military hardware, computers, electric vehicles and renewable energy.