U.S. government reportedly wants AT&T to cut all ties with Huawei

Huawei was planning on finally making its big carrier debut in the United States this year, but at the last minute AT&T pulled out of talks and Huawei was forced to announce the Mate 10 Pro without a U.S. carrier partner and launch it as an unlocked device instead.

It was rumored at the time that AT&T removed itself from talks with Huawei due to pressure from certain federal regulators, and a report from Reuters appears to confirm that is indeed the case. Now the U.S. government is reportedly trying to get AT&T to sever all of its ties with Huawei.

AT&T is working with Huawei in at least two different areas, the first of which is on standards for AT&T’s planned 5G network. The government also wants Cricket, an AT&T subsidiary, to stop selling Huawei-branded smartphones.

In related news, a pair of U.S. Representatives recently introduced a bill that would effectively bar the U.S. government from using Huawei or ZTE smartphones at all and from contracting work from either company.

Huawei has been trying to gain traction in the U.S. smartphone market for years, but it looks like it still has a gigantic hill to climb before it can even get into conversations about competing with companies like Samsung or HTC in that market.

source: androidandme