Quiz Of The Week: Huawei

Huawei has transformed from being relatively unknown in the West to a major player on the international stage. For many, the Chinese telecoms giant is still a mystery.

The company has been fighting an uphill battle: Western countries suspect it of having a close relationship with the Chinese government, and some governments have banned it from crucial public sector contracts. Huawei maintains these accusations are unfair, and a pretext to allow those countries to favour local firms.

Spying, or spied-on?

Ironically, evidence leaked by the former US National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden suggests that Huawei itself may have been the victim of spying by the NSA.  This will do nothing to improve the relationship between the US and Chinese governments of course – but in fact, Huawei has had a long history of collaboration with the West.

It had run joint ventures with Nokia, Siemens and Motorola, among others, and partnerships with operators including BT and Vodafone. Ten years ago, the company suffered a long and bitter legal battle with Cisco over alleged theft of Cisco’s intellectual property, but that’s all water under the bridge now.

As well as telecoms equipment, Huawei now makes many phones, tablets and other mobile devices such as 3G hotspots and dongles. These are increasingly sold under its own brand, but still also appear under other names. It’s one of the contenders to break into the top rank of phone makers, as the older top tier players shake out.

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