Court rules that FCC can block subsidized purchase of Huawei’s 5G networking gear in the U.S.

Appellate court rules that the FCC can block subsidized purchases of Huawei networking equipment because it is a national security threat in the U.S.

Huawei argued in its 61-page filing that the FCC, in blocking the use of subsidized funds to purchase Huawei’s 5G gear, was replacing the State Department or other such agencies in making a decision against using such funds to purchase Huawei manufactured equipment. Trump appointee U.S. Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote, “If we were convinced that the FCC is here acting as ‘a sort of junior-varsity’ State Department, we would set the rule aside. But no such skullduggery is afoot. Assessing security risks to telecom networks falls in the FCC’s wheelhouse.”

As a result of the ban, Huawei says that the FCC’s ruling branded the company and drove away customers worried about using 5G technology opposed by the Trump administration. Additionally, the FCC’s determination about Huawei being a national security threat in the U.S. came after similar assessments about Huawei were made in the U.K., Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Honor’s latest models, the 50 and 50 Pro, use the Google Mobile Services version of Android including Google apps

The following year, the U.S. changed an export rule that blocked global foundries from shipping to Huawei any chips produced using American technology without a license from the Commerce Department. Without these actions from the U.S., Huawei would easily have been the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world by now.

Instead, we could see Huawei drop down to the seventh position this year especially after it ended up selling its Honor sub-brand to a consortium for a price believed to be in the neighborhood of more than $15 billion. Huawei did this in order to free up Honor from having to deal with the U.S. bans because of its connection to Huawei.