Chinese telecom giant Huawei
recently surpassed Sweden's Ericsson AB to become the world's largest telecom equipment supplier. According to research firm IHS Markit, Huawei was the only major equipment maker to gain market share in 2017, increasing from 25% to 28%.
Huawei has managed this despite efforts made by the United States to ban the company in this country over security concerns due to Huawei's founder's past links to the Chinese military. In 2012, the U.S. banned all domestic carriers from buying equipment from the Chinese company, and this past January, lawmakers introduced a bill that would prohibit government purchases of telecom equipment from Huawei.
But the U.S. isn't the only country concerned about Huawei. According to a recent feature in the
Wall Street Journal:
"The telecommunications equipment maker was a subject of debate in Canada’s Parliament this week, and the chief executive of South Korea’s largest telecom, considering vendors for next-generation wireless technology, reportedly called Huawei a 'concern.'
"Australia, where U.S. officials have been pushing a case that the Chinese company is a national security risk, recently pressured the Solomon Islands to drop Huawei as the contractor on an undersea cable connecting the South Pacific nation with Australia. It offered instead to fund a separate cable itself."
For its part, Huawei maintains that concerns it would use its technology to spy for the Chinese government are unfounded. Huawei products and services are used in more than 170 countries, including the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
“Huawei has a robust system of cybersecurity assurance and a proven track record,” a Huawei spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.