Huawei Starting to Win Network Contracts in the USA

Published on: 27th March 2009

China's Huawei is reported to be finally making significant progress in cracking the US market, where it has had problems in the past thanks in part to security concerns over allegations of links to the Chinese government. The company has always denied the allegations.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the company has won a contract to supply the network infrastructure for a cellphone service that cable-TV provider Cox Communications aims to launch later this year.

Citing people close to the matter, the newspaper also said that Huawei is in the short-list to supply kit to Clearwire, the WiMAX joint venture with Sprint Nextel. Clearwire and Huawei declined to comment. Clearwire has secured US$3.16 billion in funding from its investors, made up of $1.05 billion from Comcast, $1 billion from Intel, $500 million from Google, $550 million from Time Warner and $100 million from Bright House.

Huawei was thwarted in its attempt to take a minority stake in US based 3Com last year following a backlash from US politicians over company founder and president Ren Zhengfei's military background.

The company had also tried to sell a large stake in its handset subsidiary, ostensibly to raise money - but also to improve corporate visibility and make it easier to deal with US firms. The sale was cancelled when the economic downturn accelerated.

On the web: Wall Street Journal

 

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