US lawmakers urge AT&T to cut commercial ties with Huawei: Sources
WASHINGTON: U.S. lawmakers are
urging AT&T Inc., the No. 2 wireless carrier, to cut all commercial ties to
Chinese phone maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and oppose plans by telecom
operator China Mobile Ltd to enter the U.S. market because of national security
concerns, said two congressional aides.
The warning comes after the
administration of U.S. President Donald Trump took a harder line on policies
initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama on issues ranging from Beijing's role
in restraining North Korea to Chinese efforts to acquire U.S. strategic
industries.
Earlier this month, AT&T was
forced to scrap a plan to offer its customers Huawei handsets after some
members of Congress lobbied against the idea with federal regulators, sources
told Reuters.
The U.S. government has also blocked
a string of Chinese acquisitions over national security concerns, including Ant
Financials proposed purchase of U.S. money transfer company MoneyGram
International Inc.
The lawmakers are also advising U.S.
companies that if they have ties to Huawei or China Mobile, it could hamper
their ability to do business with the U.S. government, one aide said,
requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
One of the commercial ties senators
and House members want AT&T to cut is its collaboration with Huawei over
standards for the high-speed next generation 5G network, the aides said.
Another is the use of Huawei handsets by AT&T's discount subsidiary
Cricket, the aides said.
China Mobile, the world's biggest
mobile phone operator, did not respond to requests for comment.
AT&T declined to comment but
said that it had made no decisions on 5G suppliers. U.S. lawmakers who have in
the past expressed concerns about the prospect of the deal between AT&T and
Huawei either declined to comment or were not immediately available.
Huawei declined to comment but
earlier this week told Reuters that it sells its equipment through more than 45
of the world's top 50 carriers and puts the privacy and security of its
customers as its top priority.
National security experts fear that
any data from a Huawei device, for example about the location of the phone's
user, would be available to Chinese government intelligence services. In 2012,
Huawei and ZTE Corp were the subject of a U.S. investigation into whether their
equipment provided an opportunity for foreign espionage and threatened critical
U.S. infrastructure - a link that Huawei has consistently denied.
"The next wave of wireless
communication has enormous economic and national security implications. China's
participation in setting the standards and selling the equipment raises many
national security issues that demand strict and prompt attention," said
Michael Wessel, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review
Commission, which was set up by Congress.
U.S. lawmakers do not want China
Mobile to be given a license to do business in the United States, the
congressional aides said. China Mobile applied for the license in 2011, and the
application is pending before the Federal Communications Commission.
Huawei and Chinese telecom firms
have long struggled to gain a toehold in the U.S. market, partly because of
U.S. government pressure on potential U.S. partners.
Two Republican lawmakers,
Representatives Michael Conaway and Liz Cheney, introduced a bill this week
that bars the U.S. government from using or contracting with Huawei or ZTE
Corp, a Chinese telecommunications and equipment and systems company.
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