EW January 2011

The concentrated effort by Huawei is already bearing fruit. The Internet communications firm Clearwire (Kirkland, Washington) – an operator of fourth-generation mobile broadband networks in some 30 US cities – was to begin testing a system based on Huawei’s 4G network technology before the New Year. And the Chinese company is believed to be under consideration for a contract to supply $3 billion in advanced wireless equipment to Sprint, which bought its last round of network equipment from Canada’s Nortel Networks; Motorola, of the US; and Alcatel Lucent, of France. As noted by John Markoff and David Barboza of the International Herald Tribune (25 th October), Huawei’s American initiative is significant because the Shenzhen-based firm is China’s “first truly home-grown”multinational corporation. Accordingly, the Tribune reporters wrote, “Some analysts say they believe [Huawei’s] spectacular rise will serve as a model for other Chinese companies seeking to compete internationally.” Huawei’s public-relations initiative may have taken a blow ❈ ❈ when Clearwire, the Chinese company’s American choice to test its latest technology, ran into some money troubles with implications for its 54%-owner Sprint Nextel. On 15 th November, Clearwire was reported as saying it might need help to remain in operation, possibly obliging Sprint to provide additional financing if Clearwire were to default on debt. Dow Jones Newswires noted that Sprint had hoped Clearwire would give it a much-needed boost in subscribers

Telecom

With the help of some persuasive Americans, China’s Huawei makes a determined push into the US marketplace Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is the world’s second-largest telecom equipment supplier, behind Sweden’s Ericsson. With Chinese government backing, Huawei has signed up major customers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Even in Europe it has competed well with Ericsson to supply equipment to big carriers. But Huawei has struggled to break into the US market, largely because of worries about national security on the part of a number of members of Congress. Determined to overcome the legislators’ reservations, Huawei has assembled an array of lobbyists, lawyers, consultants and public relations firms with the goal of helping it to win US customers. To that end, it also has formed a “cooperative relationship” with Amerilink Telecom, a distributor of Huawei products whose board members include a former US congressman and a former president of the World Bank. Amerilink’s CEO is a former senior vice president of Sprint Nextel Corp, the third-largest American wireless carrier. Both Sprint and Amerilink have their headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas.

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EuroWire – January 2011