China’s Huawei said to be pushing into US market

Chinese telecoms maker Huawei Technologies is trying to secure its first major deal in the United States despite concerns in Washington over its possible close ties to China’s army, a report said Friday.

Huawei, founded by a former People’s Liberation Army engineer, is bidding to sell equipment needed for the expansion of the wireless broadband network of Sprint Nextel, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources.

Sprint is the third-largest American mobile operator.

If the bid is approved, it would mark the first time Huawei has sold equipment to a large US telecommunications operator, though it has made sales to smaller US companies, the newspaper said.

Huawei, which also makes mobile phones, was forced in 2008 to abandon a joint 2.2 billion dollar bid for US technology firm 3Com over security concerns.

Huawei’s growth in the United States has been stunted by US government concerns that the company could be used by the Chinese military for economic espionage on the US communications network, the report said.

A spokesman for Huawei declined to comment on the report.

Source: AFP