The US government has temporarily eased some trade restrictions on Huawei allowing them to buy equipment and complete software updates. The government has given 90 days relaxation period to the Chinese giant.
With this, Huawei will be able to purchase American-made goods in order to maintain its existing network and give software updates already sold Huawei smartphones. However, the Chinese company will not be able to buy American parts and components for manufacturing new products without license approvals. The exemption is now valid from Monday and it will last until August 09, 2019.
“The Temporary General License grants operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in a press statement. “In short, this license will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural Broadband networks.”
The Commerce Department says that it might extend the temporary general license grants to Huawei beyond 90 days. The move is meant to give some breathing space to the telecommunications providers that rely on Huawei equipment and give some time to make other arrangements.
Commenting on the 90-day temporary license grant, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei says that it is not that meaningful for the company. He says that the company is fully prepared and the brand has kept its core technologies intact.
“In such a critical moment, I’m grateful to US companies, as they’ve contributed a lot to Huawei’s development and showed their conscientiousness on the matter…As far as I know, US companies have been making efforts to persuade the US government to let them cooperate with Huawei…We always need US-developed chipsets, and we can’t exclude American products with a narrow mind.” Ren said, as reported by The Global Times.
Ren says that the trade restrictions will not affect Huawei’s 5G rollout and he doesn’t expect anyone to catch up to the company’s technology in the next two to three years. He further stated that the US government is underestimating Huawei’s capabilities, Ren told state broadcaster CCTV in an interview.
To recall, the US government blacklisted Huawei and 68 entities that made it impossible for the Chinese company to purchase goods made in the US. The US government has accused Huawei of facilitating Chinese espionage. The Justice Department is prosecuting Huawei over accusations of bank fraud and technology.
Soon after the ban, Google halted its business with Huawei. The search engine giant said that while it’s complying with the US Government Executive order, its services and app will keep functioning for the existing Huawei devices. Following this, other American companies including Qualcomm, Intel, Broadcom and Xilinx have requested their staff to not be involved in supplying pieces of equipment till they’re further advised to.
In the meantime, existing customers of Huawei or Honor smartphones need not worry about getting updateson their smartphones.