Huawei has a plan to create a telecoms rival in the US, but Washington won’t be buying it
- The offer to license 5G technology to an American company does not address Washington’s concerns, analysts say
- Telecommunications have increasingly been seen as a strategic national security domain and a geopolitical issue
China’s telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies made headlines last week when its founder and chief executive, Ren Zhengfei, offered to help the United States build a competing 5G company – exclusively licensing its entire portfolio of 5G wireless technology, hardware and source code alike – that could develop its own large-scale market.
However, analysts said, Ren apparently overlooked one problem: the lack of US interest.
“It is an interesting proposal, but it doesn’t really address any concerns the US has … especially as Huawei has become synonymous with all the things people distrust about Chinese telecommunications,” said Lorand Laskai, visiting researcher at Georgetown University’s Centre for Security and Emerging Technology.
“Also, it is not a general licensing offer, but an exclusive one, like you transfer everything to one company in a really big deal.
“It is hard to imagine any company would take that risk to deal with Huawei,” added Laskai.
