The USD 26 billion merger of US operators T-Mobile and Sprint is close to being cleared by the US after their foreign parent companies pledged to reduce their use of Huawei equipment, according to unnamed sources cited by Reuters. Although neither T-Mobile or Sprint use Huawei network equipment, their majority owners, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom and Japan’s SoftBank, respectively, use some Huawei gear in overseas markets. However, both companies last week responded to rising security concerns resulting from the use of Chinese telecommunications equipment by pledging to replace Huawei devices in the coming years.
According to the report, US government officials have been pressuring Deutsche Telekom to stop using Huawei equipment, and both T-Mobile and Sprint believed they had to comply before a US national security panel would let them move forward on their deal. The German operator last week announced that it was reviewing its vendor plans in Germany and other European markets “given the debate on the security of Chinese network gear” while SoftBank is also reportedly planning a shift from Huawei devices to those made by Nokia and Ericsson.
Earlier this month Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of its billionaire founder, was arrested in Canada on a US extradition request for allegedly breaking US sanctions on Iran.
