Will the House of Representatives take action against ZTE and Huawei?

U.S. government was taking a close look at Chinese manufacturers ZTE and Huawei. Yesterday morning the U.S. House of Representatives issued a report suggesting that telecom operators not do business with the two companies, citing a number of issues — including a security threat. While the report focuses on routers and other network equipment, the cellular divisions will clearly be affected. So will this report amount to any sanctions against the companies? The allegations, which include the sending of data packets back to China, seem serious. Both companies issued strongly worded statements denouncing the report, as expected. The committee chair, Mike Rogers, did not urge a consumer boycott, but did urge companies to consider employing different vendors for their network solutions. Clearly the U.S. is going to feel concerned when companies with ties to Chinese organizations — Huawei had but claims to have severed connections to China’s People’s Liberation Army. But will they take direct action? In many ways this report seems like a first step. And, as Arik Hesseldahl of All Things D notes, the U.S.’s main concerns might stem from actions it has taken itself in the recent past. ZTE gets the final word, at least in this blog post, since they did make a valid point in denouncing the report. “ZTE should not be a focus of this investigation to the exclusion of much larger Western vendors.” Zing. Via Reuters.]]>

Posted in

2 Comments

  1. Harry Eldridge on October 9, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    I have a zte warp phone from boost mobile and all I’ve had with it is issues after issues and boost has failed to do anything about it all I know this might not be the US department main concern but its about time someone does something about zte we can not allow companies like this to come in and sell Americanpeople such crap



  2. selene smith on November 17, 2012 at 3:58 am

    ZTE HAS OFFICIALLY PRODUCED THE WORST PHONE EVER KNOWN TO MANKIND. THE FACT THAT ANY COMPANY WOULD BE PERMITTED TO SELL A ZTE PHONE IN AMERICA IS A LOOP-HOLE THAT THE FCC, FTC AND DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS SHOULD CLOSE, IMMEDIATELY.