Ramla SoniThe Financial Times reports that the U.S. is looking at ways to channel money to Huawei’s European rivals. American officials are increasingly concerned with the Chinese company’s rise and threat in the global race to the next generation of mobile communication technology.
According to two people with knowledge of the situation, officials in the U.S. government have suggested issuing credit to companies such as Nokia and Ericsson in order to enable them to match the financing terms that Huawei offers to its customers.
The move is part of a wider push to fund a rival to the Chinese company, which the U.S. believes poses a security risk to it and its allies. Earlier this year, Huawei was placed on a so-called entity-list, banning American companies to do business with it. Some Western countries, such as Australia have heeded American warnings and stopped Huawei’s involvement in the rollout of 5G technology.
Huawei sells 28% of the world’s telecoms equipment, according to Dell’Oro, a market research company.
Ericsson and Nokia are some of its closest rivals. Both companies declined to comment.
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