Chinese blacklisted telecommunications equipment giant Huawei is in initial talks with some US telecommunications companies about the license of its 5G network technology, a Huawei executive said Reuters on Friday.
Vincent Pang, senior vice president and director of the company's board, said some firms had expressed interest in both a long-term agreement and a single transfer, and refused to name or quantify the companies.
"There are some companies that talk to us, but it would take a long trip to really finish everything," Pang explained on a visit to Washington this week. "They have shown interest," he added, saying the talks are only a couple of weeks old and are not yet at a detailed level.
The US government UU., Fearing that the Huawei team can be used to spy on customers, has led a campaign to convince allies to exclude it from their 5G networks. Huawei has repeatedly denied the claim.
There are currently no US 5G suppliers and European rivals Ericsson and Nokia are generally more expensive.
In May, Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment provider, was blacklisted in the United States for national security concerns, prohibiting it from buying parts made in the United States without a special license.
Washington has also filed criminal charges against the company, alleging bank fraud, violations of US sanctions against Iran and theft of trade secrets, which Huawei denies.
The rules that will come out of the Commerce Department earlier this month are expected to effectively prohibit the company from the US telecommunications supply chain. UU.
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The idea of a single rate in exchange for access to Huawei's 5G patents, licenses, codes and knowledge was first presented by CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei in interviews with the New York Times and the Economist last month.
But previously it was not clear if there was any interest on the part of American companies.
In an interview with Reuters Last month, a State Department official expressed skepticism about Ren's offer.
"It is simply not realistic for operators to take this equipment and then manage all the software and hardware," said the person. "If there are software errors embedded in the initial software, there would be no way to necessarily say that they are there and could be activated at any time, even if the software code is delivered to mobile operators." the official added.
For his part, Pang refused to predict whether an agreement could be signed. However, he warned that the investment in research and development required to continuously improve the platform after a single transfer from Huawei would be very expensive for companies.
Huawei has spent billions to develop its 5G technology since 2009.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1511758/huawei-in-early-talks-with-us-firms-to-license-5g-platform