One of the chairmen of Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd has an odd message for the United States, which is locked in a race against China to dominate 5G infrastructure worldwide.
Eric Xu, one of Huawei's rotating chairmen, said the U.S. won't become world Number One in 5G without the participation of Huawei. This brash claim prods the Trump administration to lift the Congressional and Pentagon ban on the use of Huawei networking equipment and cheap smartphones.
Xu said Huawei doesn't now have the opportunity to serve the U.S. consumer with 5G solutions and services. The consequence is that the U.S. market is a market without full competition while still blocking leading players from participation.
Xu said he's "not sure whether they can really deliver their objective of becoming the world's No. 1 in 5G," without Huawei.
Xu emphasized that blocking Huawei from the U.S. 5G market will mean less competition. This situation might result in American consumers paying higher phone bills while U.S. telecom companies will have to spend more money to bring their 5G networks online.
Without the participation of 5G technology leaders such as Huawei, and without full competition, American telcos "will have to spend more to buy 5G equipment for network rollout. Consumers will have to spend more to get 5G services that are not as good from a quality point of view as other markets with leading players," said Xu.
Huawei has been blocked from selling network systems in the U.S. since 2012. In January of this year, the U.S. Congress introduced a bill to ban U.S. government agencies from using phones and equipment made by Huawei and also ZTE Corporation.
In February, the Director of National Intelligence; the heads of the FBI, CIA, and National Security Agency; Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Glossarial Intelligence Agency testified before the U.S. Senate that Huawei products pose a potential security risk to U.S. users.
Huawei is the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker. It was founded by Ren Zhengfei, a former officer in the People's Liberation Army. It's a multinational networking, telecommunications equipment, and services company based in Shenzhen.
5G will allow consumers to download movies in seconds. It will also enable infrastructure such as smart cities that require enormous amounts of data. The U.S. and China are leading the race to become the dominant leader in 5G.
Huawei's reputation as a risk to national security has caused it to be banned by the United Kingdom, Australia and, lately, New Zealand.
