Verizon Won't Sell Huawei Smartphones
Pressured by the U.S. the government, Verizon Communications has reportedly dropped all plans to sell phones by Chinese manufacturer Huawei Technologies.
The move follows AT&T Inc.'s decision earlier this month not to introduce the Mate 10 Pro to the U.S. market. Huawei devices still work on both companies' networks, but both companies won't sell them directly.
Huawei and Verizon declined to comment.
Huawei came under U.S. scrutiny in 2003, when Cisco Systems Inc. sued its China-based rival, accusing it of stealing software code for its network routers. Huawei denied the charges and pulled some products.
Huawei dominates networking gear sales in China and is now the world's top networking equipment supplier, even though it has made nearly zero inroads in the U.S. The Chinese company is also participating in the development of equipment of 5G networks. The U.S. government is concerned about Chinese spying if Chinese-made equipment and smartphones are used in its networks, but these concerns are creating a potential roadblock in the race between Verizon and AT&T to offer 5G.
Chinese ZTE also plans to introduce a 5G-capable device in the U.S. at year-end or in early 2019. So far, ZTE hasn't met the same level of pushback from the U.S. government as Huawei has.
Trump's national security team looked for ways to accelerate the deployment of American 5G networks, but the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said at Monday's briefing that discussions about a national 5G network are at an early stage and that no decision has been reached.