Carriers Drop Huawei Phones as U.S. Crackdown Crimps Plans

Carriers Drop Huawei Phones as U.S. Crackdown Crimps Plans
Huawei

Phone companies are scrapping plans to sell Huawei handsets, threatening to impede the company’s global smartphone ambitions, according to Bloomberg. Carriers in Japan, Taiwan and Britain stopped taking early orders for newer smartphone models from Huawei or shelved plans to offer its handsets equipped for 5G networks.

President Donald Trump’s move last week to put Huawei on an export blacklist amid a trade war with Beijing threatens to cut the tech company off from U.S. software and component suppliers. Telecom operators fear that could affect the functioning of its newest handsets as Huawei won’t get access to the most popular version of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google.

If the boycotts multiply, it would be a major blow to Huawei, which is trying to overtake South Korea’s Samsung as the world’s No. 1 handset supplier this year after leapfrogging Apple. Mobile phones and other devices in Huawei’s consumer business account for almost half of its revenue.

Britain’s BT decided not to include Huawei phones in Britain’s first 5G network because of uncertainty over whether they could use Android, a spokesman for the carrier said. Rival Vodafone paused pre-orders for the Huawei Mate 20X (5G) in the U.K. as “a temporary measure while uncertainty exists regarding new Huawei 5G devices,“ a spokesman said. British retail chain Dixons Carphone followed suit, also pausing Huawei 5G phone preorders, a spokeswoman said.

NTT Docomo, Japan’s largest operator, stopped taking pre-orders for Huawei’s new P30 handset, and KDDI delayed the introduction of the phone indefinitely. SoftBank’s YMobile announced a similar move, citing concerns over the availability of software updates. Taiwanese carrier Chunghwa Telecom, meanwhile, said it won’t procure new Huawei models.