Huawei: Banned and Permitted In Which Countries? List and FAQ –

Welcome to page three. Here are additional company and country updates involving Huawei, sorted alphabetically.

University of Oxford: The university said in January 2018 that it would no longer accept new donations and sponsorships to fund research from Huawei. Source: CNBC, January 18, 2019.

United Arab Emirates (UAE): A telecom company called du has discussed U.S. restrictions on Huawei with the Chinese company, and believes the restrictions will not hamper its 5G network, its chief executive said. Source: Reuters, July 24, 2019.

Continue to page two of two for Huawei-related policy statements from the United Kingdom, the United States, and more.

United Kingdom: Multiple updates…

• A $2 billion effort by Huawei to address security issues raised in a 2018 British government report will take between three and five years to produce results, according to a Huawei letter to British lawmakers. Source: Reuters, February 6, 2019.
• British security officials do not support a full ban of Huawei from national telecoms networks despite U.S. allegations the Chinese firm and its products could be used by Beijing for spying. Source: Reuters, February 17, 2019.
• A UK government review involving a potential Huawei ban from UK networks should be completed in March 2019, although its findings may be too sensitive to publish. Source: Sky News.
• The UK government-led board that oversees vetting of Huawei gear in Britain said continued problems with the company’s software development had brought “significantly increased risk to UK operators.” Source: Reuters, March 28, 2019.
• A top cyber-security official has said Huawei’s “shoddy” engineering practices mean its mobile network equipment could be banned from Westminster and other sensitive parts of the UK. Source: BBC, April 8,  2019,
• Huawei poses such a grave security risk to the United Kingdom that the government must reconsider its decision to give it a limited role in building 5G networks, a former head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service said. Source: Reuters, May 16, 2019.
• Britain’s biggest mobile operator EE aims to launch the country’s first 5G service in late May 2019, but it will not offer Huawei handsets until the Chinese company’s future becomes clear following its row with the United States. Source: Reuters, May 22, 2019.
• Britain’s new prime minister must urgently make a decision on the role China’s Huawei will have in next-generation 5G networks as the ongoing debate is damaging international relations, a powerful committee of British lawmakers said. Source: Reuters, July 18, 2019.
• Britain on July 22, 2019 postponed a decision on whether Huawei could participate in building next-generation 5G mobile networks until it had a clearer picture of the impact of U.S. measures taken against the Chinese company. Source: Reuters, July 22, 2019.
• Boris Johnson is preparing to allow Huawei to win access to Britain’s future 5G telecoms network — endorsing the Theresa May decision that sparked a cabinet crisis. Source: The Sunday Times, October 27, 2019.
• U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has warned UK about allowing Huawei into its 5G telecommunications networks, saying such a move would pose a risk to UK’s secret intelligence services, the Financial Times reported. Source: Reuters, December 24, 2019.
• The United States is making a final pitch to Britain ahead of a U.K. decision on whether to upgrade its telecoms network with Huawei equipment, amid threats to cut intelligence-sharing ties. Source: Reuters, January 8, 2020.
• A delegation of U.S. officials will arrive in Britain on January 13, 2020, to try to persuade Britain not to use Huawei equipment in the upgrade of its telecoms network. Source: Reuters, January 13, 2020.
• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said those opposed to the use of equipment made by China’s Huawei in the UK’s new 5G networks need to say what alternative technology should be used instead, Reuters reports. U.S. government officials presented the British government with new evidence on Monday about the risks of using Huawei equipment, branding it “madness”, according to reports. Source: Reuters, January 14, 2020.
• Britain’s BT and Vodafone are considering urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to risk the rollout of next generation mobile networks by banning Huawei. Source: Reuters, January 17, 2020.
• U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will put his friendship with President Trump to the test this week as he is poised to allow Huawei a role in the country’s fifth-generation wireless broadband networks. Source: Bloomberg, January 27, 2020.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson granted Huawei a limited role in Britain’s 5G mobile network, frustrating a global attempt by the United States to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from the West’s next-generation communications. Source: Reuters, January 27, 2020.
• The United States urged Britain to look again at its decision to allow China’s Huawei a limited role in 5G networks, cautioning that American information should only pass across trusted networks. Source: Reuters, January 29, 2020.
• Britain’s parliamentary defense committee will investigate the security of the country’s 5G mobile network, the group of lawmakers said, amid continued concerns about the role of Huawei. Source: Reuters, March 6, 2020.
• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces his first rebellion, over the government’s decision to allow China’s Huawei a role in building the country’s 5G phone network. Source: Reuters, March 10, 2020.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson on defeated his first party rebellion over a government decision to allow Huawei to have a role in building Britain’s 5G phone network. Source: Reuters, March 10, 2020.
• HSBC Holdings  Chairman Mark Tucker has warned Britain against a ban on Huawei, claiming the bank could face reprisals in China. Source: Reuters, June 7, 2020.
• The head of the NATO military alliance said the West could not ignore the rise of China and so it was important that Britain had a review of the role of Huawei in its 5G network to ensure its security. Source: Reuters reports.
• British security officials have told UK telecom operators to ensure they have adequate stockpiles of Huawei equipment due to fears that new U.S. sanctions will disrupt the Chinese firm’s ability to maintain critical supplies. Source: Reuters, June 19, 2020.
• United Kingdom officials are drawing up proposals to stop installing Huawei equipment in as little as six months, in a reversal of a decision earlier this year. Sources: The Sunday Telegraph and Reuters, July 5, 2020.
• Huawei has requested a meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to work out a deal to delay its potential removal from the country’s 5G phone network. Source: Reuters, July 12, 2020.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set ban Huawei from Britain’s 5G network in a landmark decision that will anger Beijing but win plaudits from President Donald Trump as the United States grapples with China’s rising economic and technological clout. Source: Reuters, July 13, 2020.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered Huawei equipment to be purged completely from Britain’s 5G network by 2027, risking the ire of China by signaling that the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker is no longer welcome in the West. Source: Reuters, July 13, 2020.
• China warned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that his decision to ban Huawei from the 5G network would cost Britain dearly in investment, casting the move as the result of politicized pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump. Source: Reuters, July 15, 2020.
• The U.S. and British foreign ministers agreed to promote the development of “additional trusted 5G solutions,” the U.S. State Department said, two days after Britain decided to purge Huawei equipment from its 5G network by 2027. Source: Reuters, July 16, 2020.
• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will discuss ways to tackle the growing might of China when he meets Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson on July 21, just a week after London ordered a purge of Huawei gear from the 5G network. Source: Reuters, July 21, 2020.
• The British parliament’s defense committee has found clear evidence that telecoms giant Huawei had colluded with the Chinese state and said Britain may need to remove all Huawei equipment earlier than planned. Source: Reuters, October 8, 2020.
• BT has asked the UK government for more time to remove the Huawei core of its network after supply chain concerns led to an impending ban on the equipment.  Source: Bloomberg, June 29, 2022.
• Britain extended the deadline to remove equipment and services from China’s Huawei in core network functions to Dec. 31, 2023, from an original target of Jan. 28, 2023, after consulting with the company and telecoms operators. Source: Reuters, October 13, 2022.

United States: Multiple updates…

• U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on April 26, 2023 that Chinese cloud computing companies such as Huawei Cloud and Alibaba Cloud could pose a threat to U.S. security and vowed to review a request to add them to an export control list. Source: Reuters
• A group of nine Republican senators urged the Biden administration on April 24, 2023 to impose sanctions on Huawei Cloud and other Chinese cloud service providers, citing national security concerns. Source: Reuters
• Huawei and ZTE technology will largely be banned from use by the US government and government contractors, according to the Defense Authorization Act, which President Trump signed in August 2018. Source: The Verge, August 2018.
• President Trump is weighing an executive order that could ban Chinese telecommunications gear from U.S. networks, but the plan is facing resistance from U.S. carriers in rural areas whose networks run on Huawei equipment. Source: The Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2019.
• Huawei is ready to face any extra security measures required to remain in the race to develop next-generation 5G networks in central and eastern Europe, Andy Purdy, Chief Security Officer at Huawei Technologies USA, said. Source: Reuters, February 13, 2019.
• Huawei is preparing to sue the United States government for banning federal agencies from using the China-based company’s products, The New York Times reports. Source: The New York Times, March 4, 2019.
• President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order barring U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by firms posing a national security risk, paving the way for a ban on doing business with China’s Huawei, three U.S. officials familiar with the plan said. Source: Reuters, May 14, 2019.
• The Trump administration officially added Huawei to a trade blacklist, immediately enacting restrictions that will make it extremely difficult for the telecom giant to do business with U.S. companies. Source: Reuters, May 16, 2019
• Huawei faces numerous supply chain, chip and software partner challenges amid new U.S. regulations against the company. Google, Intel, Qualcomm, Xilinx, Broadcom and others are cutting supplies to Huawei, according to multiple reports. Source: ChannelE2E, May 20, 2019.

• The United States has temporarily eased trade restrictions on China’s Huawei to minimize disruption for its customers, a move the founder of the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker said meant little because it was already prepared for U.S. action. Source: Reuters, May 20, 2019.
• The U.S. administration is considering Huawei-like sanctions on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision, media reports show, deepening worries that trade friction between the world’s top two economies could be further inflamed. Source: Reuters, May 21, 2019.
• A Senate bill floated on May 22, 2019 aims to help U.S. networks extract equipment made by Huawei, setting aside $700 million to subsidize the overhaul amid escalating fears about the Chinese telecom giant. Source: Law360, May 22, 2019.
• Huawei filed a motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit against the U.S. government, in the telecoms equipment maker’s latest bid to fight sanctions from Washington that threaten to push it out of global markets. Source: Reuters, May 28. 2019.
• The White House’s acting budget chief is pushing for a delay in implementing key provisions of a law that restricts the U.S. government’s business with Huawei Technologies Co., citing the burdens on U.S. companies that use its technology. Source: The Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2019.
• The White House Office of Management and Budget has told the U.S. Congress it will now meet a two-year deadline to ban federal contracts with companies that do business with Chinese telecom giant Huawei, part of a defense law passed last year, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Source: Reuters, June 13, 2019.
• President Trump is looking to require next-generation 5G cellular equipment used in the United States to be designed and manufactured outside China. Source: The Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2019.
• Large U.S. technology companies in the direct sights of the Trump administration’s ban on exports to Huawei are finding ways to resume some shipments to the blacklisted Chinese tech giant without running afoul of American regulations. Source: The Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2019.
• About a dozen rural U.S. telecom carriers that depend on Huawei for network gear are in discussions with its biggest rivals, Ericsson and Nokia, to replace their Chinese equipment. Source: Reuters, June 25, 2019.
• President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a cease-fire on trade that will remove some curbs on Huawei Technologies Co. buying high-tech equipment from the U.S., for the moment lifting one cloud over the global economy. Source: The Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2019.
• The U.S. government filed a motion on July 4 asking for the dismissal of a lawsuit by Huawei that claimed the United States had acted illegally when it blacklisted Huawei’s products. Source: Reuters, July 4, 2019.
• Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives introduced bills to keep tight restrictions on Huawei, amid concern about President Donald Trump’s easing of curbs on the Chinese firm. Source: Reuters, July 16, 2019.

• A month after President Donald Trump said he would allow U.S. companies to resume selling to blacklisted Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, his administration has done little to clarify what sales will be permitted. Source: Reuters, July 29, 2019.
• The U.S. agency responsible for government contracts has released an interim rule for a ban on federal purchases of telecommunications equipment from five Chinese companies, including Huawei. Source: Reuters, August 8, 2019.
• President Trump indicated that the United States will make no purchases from Huawei. The statement pressured U.S. technology chip supplier stocks — particularly those that sell components to Huawei. Source: CNBC television
• The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to extend a reprieve given to Huawei that permits the Chinese firm to buy supplies from U.S. companies so that it can service existing customers, two sources familiar with the situation said. Source: Reuters, August 18, 2019.
• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on August 20, 2019, that United States was not sending “mixed messages” on Huawei and he does not believe a U.S. blacklist of the Chinese telecommunications giant will block a trade deal with Beijing. Source: Reuters, August 20, 2019.
• Huawei used code names and secret subsidiaries to conduct business in Syria, Sudan and Iran, the U.S. alleged in the extradition case related to sanctions violations against the company’s chief financial officer. Source: Bloomberg, August 21, 2019.
• U.S. prosecutors are looking into additional instances of alleged technology theft by Huawei Technologies Co., according to people familiar with the matter, potentially expanding beyond existing criminal cases against the Chinese telecommunications giant. Source: The Wall Street Journal, August 29, 2019.
• The United States and Poland believe suppliers of 5G network equipment should be rigorously evaluated for foreign government control, a joint declaration signed on September 3, 2019, said, as Washington pressures allies to exclude China from 5G networks. Source: Reuters, September 2, 2019.
• The United States has raised its concerns with Gulf allies over a possible security risk in using Huawei’s technology for their 5G mobile infrastructure, Reuters reports. Huawei has repeatedly denied the U.S. allegations, which were raised during a visit by FCC Chair Ajit Pai to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, all of which are using its equipment, the report says. Source: Reuters, September 12, 2019.

• Huawei is in early-stage talks with some U.S. telecoms companies about licensing its 5G network technology to them. Source: Reuters, October 18, 2019.
• The FCC plans to vote in November 2019 to designate China’s Huawei and ZTE as national security risks, barring their U.S. rural carrier customers from tapping an $8.5 billion government fund to purchase equipment or services. Source: Reuters, October 28, 2019.
• U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said licenses for U.S. companies to sell components to Huawei will come “very shortly,” in an interview with Bloomberg. Source: Reuters crediting Bloomberg, November 3, 2019.
• Huawei and ZTE “cannot be trusted,” U.S. Attorney General William Barr said, labeling the Chinese firms a security threat as he backed a proposal to bar U.S. rural wireless carriers from tapping an $8.5 billion government fund to purchase equipment or services from them. Source: Reuters, November 14, 2019.
• The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 5-0 to designate China’s Huawei and ZTE as national security risks, barring their U.S. rural carrier customers from tapping an $8.5 billion government fund to purchase equipment. Source: Reuters, November 22, 2019.
• The Trump administration considered banning Huawei from the U.S. financial system earlier this year as part of a host of policy options to thwart the blacklisted telecoms equipment giant, according to three people familiar with the matter. Source: Reuters, December 3, 2019.
• The U.S. government is weighing new limits on sales of chips and other vital components to Huawei, sparking another furious round of lobbying by technology companies. Source: Bloomberg, December 17, 2019.
• The FCC plans to accept public comments until Feb. 3 on its determination that Huawei and ZTE pose national security risks. Source: Reuters, January 3, 2020.
• The U.S. Commerce Department has withdrawn a rule aimed at further reducing sales to Huawei amid concerns from the Defense Department the move would harm U.S. businesses.  Source: Reuters, January 24, 2020.
• U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday discussed the security of telecommunications networks with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the White House said, as Britain nears a decision on Huawei’s role in the country’s future 5G network. Source: Reuters, January 24, 2020.
• Huawei and ZTE both asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to finalize its designation of the China tech giants as risks to U.S. national security. Source: Reuters, February 3, 2020.
• U.S. Attorney General William Barr said the United States and its allies should consider the highly unusual step of taking a “controlling stake” in Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson to counter China-based Huawei’s dominance in next-generation 5G wireless technology. Source: Reuters, February 6, 2020.
• The Pentagon is likely to back new U.S. restrictions on Huawei, reversing earlier opposition to a proposal meant to further crack down on exports to the blacklisted Chinese company. Source: Reuters, February 12, 2020.
• Huawei and two of its U.S. subsidiaries were charged with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to steal trade secrets in a federal indictment. Source: The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2020.
• A federal judge in Texas rejected Huawei’s constitutional challenge to a U.S. law that restricted its ability to do business with federal agencies and their contractors. Source: Reuters, February 18, 2020.
• The Trump administration is considering changing U.S. regulations to allow it to block shipments of chips to Huawei from companies such as Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, two sources familiar with the matter said. Source: Reuters, February 17, 2020.
• The United States will host a conference in March 2020 or so on 5G that U.S. President Donald Trump will attend and that will include companies such as Samsung Electronics. Source: Reuters, February 21, 2020.
• The Senate passed a bill that would prohibit the use of federal funds to purchase equipment from Huawei and provide $1 billion for rural telecom companies to replace equipment from the Chinese tech giant that the U.S. has blacklisted. Source: ABC News, February 28, 2020.
• Members of the U.S. Congress  took another step to try to prod Britain to reverse its decision to allow Huawei to build portions of the UK’s next generation 5G networks. Source: Reuters, March 4, 2020.
• The U.S. Senate passed legislation that would require the Trump administration to identify security threats and possible fixes within the equipment and software that support 5G wireless networks. Source: Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2020.
• A senior U.S. envoy on Monday pressed Canada about Ottawa’s forthcoming decision on whether to allow Huawei to take part in its 5G network, a move Washington opposes, officials said. Source: Reuters, March 9, 2020.
• President Trump signed legislation to bar telecom carriers from using U.S. subsidies to purchase network equipment from Huawei, ZTE and other companies deemed a national security threat. The law also requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish a program to assist small providers with the costs of removing prohibited equipment or services from their networks and replacing it. Source: Reuters, March 10, 2020.
• The Trump administration moved to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei Technologies from global chipmakers, in an action that could ramp up tensions with China. Source: Reuters, May 15, 2020.
• The United States confirmed a Reuters report that it will amend its prohibitions on U.S. companies doing business with Huawei to allow them to work together on setting standards for next-generation 5G networks. Source: Reuters, June 15, 2020.
• A new U.S. rule regarding Huawei is a needed “clarification” to help develop standards, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said, adding that security concerns remain over the telecoms equipment maker. Source: Reuters, June 17, 2020.
• The Trump administration plans to finalize regulations this week that will bar the U.S. government from buying goods or services from any company that uses products from five Chinese companies including Huawei, Hikvision and Dahua. Source: Reuters, July 9, 2020.
• The U.S. and British foreign ministers agreed to promote the development of “additional trusted 5G solutions,” the U.S. State Department said, two days after Britain decided to purge Huawei equipment from its 5G network by 2027. Source: Reuters, July16, 2020.
• Ramped-up U.S. restrictions on Huawei are likely to choke the Chinese company’s access to even off-the-shelf chips, threaten its crown as the world’s largest smartphone maker and disrupt global tech supply, executives and experts warned. Source: Reuters, August 18, 2020.
• U.S. authorities allege Huawei used an obscure Hong Kong-registered company to sidestep American economic sanctions on Iran between 2007 and 2014. Huawei has said it sold the business in 2007 and denies any wrongdoing. Source: Reuters, September 16, 2020.
• The U.S. government stepped up an offensive to keep Huawei out of Brazil’s 5G market, with Washington offering to finance purchases by Brazilian telecom companies of equipment from its competitors. Source: Reuters, October 20, 2020.
• The $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill includes $1.9 billion to help telecom network equipment makers remove Huawei and ZTE equipment from U.S. networks. Source: Reuters, December 20, 2020.
• Huawei filed a lawsuit in the U.S. disputing its designation as a national security threat by the FCC, stepping up legal challenges in the country despite a change of administration in Washington. Source: The Wall Street Journal, February 10, 2021.
• The Biden administration amended licenses for companies to sell to Huawei, further restricting companies from supplying items that can be used with 5G devices. Source: Reuters, March 11, 2021.
• The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted unanimously to finalize a $1.9 billion program to reimburse U.S. carriers for removing equipment from telecommunications networks from Chinese companies deemed national security threats like Huawei and ZTE. Source: Reuters, July 13, 2021.
• U.S. officials have approved license applications worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Huawei to buy chips for its growing auto component business. Source: Reuters, August 25, 2021.
• Two republican lawmakers have raised concerns around the use of Huawei cloud services in over 40 countries due to the access it allegedly gives the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to systems, and urging Blinken to ensure that the use of these services does not expand any further. In response, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the Biden administration will take further action against Huawei if necessary. Sources: The Hill, September 22, 2021, and Reuters, September 23, 2021.
• U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said the release of Huawei’s finance chief raised serious questions about President Joe Biden’s ability to confront the threat posed by the technology giant and the Chinese Communist Party. Source: Reuters, September 25, 2021.
•  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on said it would open a $1.9 billion program to reimburse mostly rural U.S. telecom carriers for removing network equipment made by Chinese companies deemed national security threats like Huawei. Source: Reuters, September 27, 2021.
• U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation to prevent companies like Huawei or ZTE that are deemed security threats from receiving new equipment licenses from U.S. regulators. Source: Reuters, November 11, 2021.
• Huawei’s sales fell 14% in January-March 2022 from a year earlier as it pumped money into research and development while grappling with U.S. sanctions. Source: Associated Press, April 28, 2022.
• The FCC needs an additional $3 billion dollars to fund the removal from U.S. networks of equipment made by Huawei and ZTE bringing the total cost to $4.9 billion. Source: Reuters, July 15, 2022.
• The FCC plans to ban all sales of new Huawei and ZTE telecommunications devices in the U.S. — as well as some sales of video surveillance equipment from three other Chinese firms — out of national security concerns. Source: Axios, October 13, 2022.
• The Biden administration has banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from Huawei and ZTE because they pose “an unacceptable risk” to U.S. national security. Source: Reuters, November 25, 2022.

V-V-V

Verizon Communications: The telecom giant in early January 2018 dropped all plans to sell Huawei phones under pressure from the U.S. government, according to people familiar with the matter. The move followed AT&T’s decision in early January 2018 not to introduce the Mate 10 Pro to the U.S. market. Huawei devices still work on both companies’ networks, but direct sales would’ve allowed them to reach more consumers than they can through third parties. Source: Bloomberg, January 29, 2018.

Vodafone: Multiple updates…

• Although it will replace Huawei from its core infrastructure, it will not replace the company’s technology in radio access networks. Source: Tom’s Hardware, January 31, 2019.
• The company has “paused” deployment of Huawei equipment in its core networks until Western governments give the Chinese firm full security clearance. However, Vodafone has Huawei as one of its technology partners in 5G testing in Milan. Source: Reuters, February 7, 2019.
• Vodafone told Bloomberg in April 2019 that it found hidden back doors in Huawei’s technology in 2011 and 2012. The issues were resolved at that time but the revelation may further damage Huawei’s reputation, Bloomberg asserts. Source: Bloomberg, April 30, 2019.

Updates: Send updates and perspectives to ChannelE2E Content Czar Joe Panettieri ([email protected]).