Two Japanese mobile phone carriers are in trouble as they will have to delay the release of new Huawei phones. This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump, citing national security, ordered U.S. firms to stop selling components to the Chinese telecom company.
KDDI Corp and SoftBank Corp, Japan’s number two and number three carriers respectively, join the growing list of companies affected by Trump’s executive order. The country’s number one carrier, NTT Docomo, might also follow.
SoftBank spokesman Hiroyuki Mizukami said the company canceled the Friday release. He said, “because we are currently trying to confirm if our customers will be able to use the equipment with a sense of safety”.
Because Huawei is a global brand, the U.S. officials this week issued a 90-day reprieve on the ban to give breathing space to all parties taking the hit.
KDDI Corp’s spokeswoman Reiko Nakamura said the carrier canceled its May release. Meanwhile, NTT Docomo will likely follow KDDI and Softbank. “Studying possibility of stopping the receiving of sales orders of HUAWEI P30 Pro that we are planning to release this summer,” said spokesman Takahiro Suzuki.
Security Threat
The Trump administration has long been concerned about Huawei’s technology’s ability to spy on other companies and countries. Trump’s ban decision added tension to an already heated trade dispute between the U.S. and China. The trade war also continues to shake the global economic growth.
Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi slammed U.S. moves against Huawei as “economic bullying”. “The US use of state power to arbitrarily exert pressure on a private Chinese company like Huawei is typical economic bullying,” the minister said.
Huawei Loses Google
Huawei took a big hit when Google this week announced it’s cutting its service on the tech giant’s smartphones. Google’s Android operating system powers most of the world’s smartphones.
