The US government must be really serious about pushing Huawei and ZTE away from its shores. The Pentagon has recently ordered all US military bases to stop selling ZTE and Huawei smartphones over possible security risks. The Department of Defense is urging its people to stop selling them because the phones “may pose an unacceptable risk to the department’s personnel, information and mission” as per a spokesperson from Pentagon. Having such phones for personal use is still okay, though, but not for official and business use.
Huawei has been having a hard time winning in the United States since it decided to formally sell its products late last year. It’s not giving up yet even if carriers and retailers are urged to cut deals and stop promoting them. And for more unfortunate news, the Chinese OEM is now being investigated over illegal sales in Iran. As for ZTE, the brand has been popular in the US. It’s the fourth biggest phone maker in the country but it was recently sanctioned for lying to the US government.
This statement by the Pentagon is another hit against Huawei and ZTE. It may affect ZTE’s business in the US but not Huawei. Even without the US, Huawei is already doing great as the third biggest in the world next to Samsung and Apple.
Huawei has always been firm in saying its phones are safe and secure because they “meet the highest standards of security, privacy and engineering in every country”. No statement has been made by ZTE yet.
VIA: WSJ
