Chinese tech giant Huawei announced this week that it has managed to close more than 50 commercial 5G contracts globally. The announcement comes as the company faces massive pressure from the United States after it was caught in the crossfire of the country's ongoing trade dispute with China.
Huawei apparently still managed to close major deals outside of the US, despite the country's campaign to force its allies to boycott the company's equipment and services. Countries such as France and Russia have all but ignored the US' accusations against Huawei and have proceeded to tap the company's expertise in 5G.
The US has alleged that Huawei is nothing more than a tool being used by the Chinese government to spy on other countries. It also alleged that Huawei poses a security risk to countries and firms that use its equipment. Huawei has repeatedly denied that its equipment is used to spy on other countries.
The Chinese firm is currently one of the leading providers of 5G equipment and services. The next-generation mobile network is touted as the next big step in communications technologies, able to provide ultra-fast data speeds essential for new applications such as autonomous driving and internet of things (IoT) tech.
William Xu, one of Huawei's boards of directors, mentioned in an interview that the company manufactures the best 5G products in the world. The executive explained that the company takes its business very seriously, including its product's commercialization and security.
Despite the US sanctions, Huawei has remained very profitable. Last month, the company reported a significant 23 percent year-on-year increase in revenues for the first half of 2019.
The number of contracts Huawei has managed to close puts it well ahead of its closest competitors in the space, namely Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson. In July, Nokia announced that it has so far managed to close 45 commercial 5G deals. Ericsson, on the other hand, reported in its latest published report that it has managed to close 24 commercial 5G contracts.
The announcement of Huawei's latest number is likely the company's way of showing the world that it can still score major deals despite the US' trade sanctions against it. Huawei recently managed to sign contracts with major mobile carriers in countries such as Japan and Australia.
This week, the United States announced that it has signed a two-sided agreement with Poland to come up with guidelines for companies and countries that use third-party providers. A part of the agreement stated that the guidelines should investigate whether a supplier is subject to the control of a foreign government. The agreement did not explicitly name Huawei.
