Chinese technology giant Huawei has had a rough run with the US government. With its technology under heavy scrutiny in the US and the sanctions, the company has plans to make up for some of its losses by charging big smartphone companies like Apple and Samsung for using its 5G-related patents, claims a report by CNBC. Big smartphone companies like Apple and Samsung rely upon 5G modems from Qualcomm but Huawei has the maximum number of 5G-related patents in the world. The report has cited GreyB, an intellectual property research company, which claims that Huawei has the highest number of “declared 5G patent families of any company, at 3,007, and that 18.3% of those are in use.” Next in the list of the most number of patents are Samsung, LG Electronics, Nokia, Ericsson and Qualcomm. According to the report, Huawei may charge Apple and Samsung $2.50 per smartphone sold. The Chinese smartphone maker plans to keep its licensing rates lower than that of competitors like Qualcomm or Nokia. This way, it could fetch Huawei $1.2-$1.3 billion from 2019-21, though these are rough estimates and the actual figure may go higher. 5G is the future and despite launching 5G phones, the smartphone giants may have to depend upon companies like Qualcomm and Huawei for 5G modems that could give faster connectivity. Apple may come up with its own 5G modems to reduce its dependability on Qualcomm. The Cupertino-based tech giant, with its M1 chip for MacBooks, has shown that it could do without the Intel chips in the past. For the nonce, Huawei’s patents may start a new revenue stream for the company.
Honor, the former Huawei sub-brand that recently announced that it is parting ways with the Chinese telecom company, is reportedly gearing up to launch a flagship smartphone soon. According to a report that emerged from China, Honor will release a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC-powered phone in July. It appears this upcoming smartphone will be part of Magic smartphone series, which will offer other high-end specs as well. The report also highlights that back in December 2020, Honor’s CEO Zhao Ming had promised that the Honor will also revive the once popular Huawei “Mate and P” series. It remains to be seen whether or not these Honor smartphones become available in the global smartphone market. Honor’s recently launched smartphone — V40 5G — is reportedly set to be launched in Europe; that too with Google services and apps. To recall, this handset was launched in the company’s home country China in January and was the first smartphone of the company to be launched after Huawei sold it. The Honor V40 has apparently been certified for launch in the European region, but so far there hasn’t been any formal announcement from the brand.
VANCOUVER: A Canadian judge has rejected a request from Huawei‘s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who wanted testimony from employees of the Chinese telecom giant to be admitted as evidence in her fight against extradition to the United States. Meng — whose father is Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei — has been in a two-year battle against extradition over charges the firm violated US sanctions on Iran. She is accused of defrauding HSBC by falsely misrepresenting links between Huawei and its Skycom subsidiary, putting the bank at risk of violating sanctions against Tehran as it continued to clear US dollar transactions for Huawei. Lawyers for Meng, 49, believe the affidavits could show the banking giant was aware of the links between Huawei and Skycom, which sold telecom equipment to Iran. The evidence would help demonstrate the prosecution case was “manifestly unreliable,” according to the lawyers. In a decision released late Friday, Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that the testimony requested by Meng’s defense “relates to issues properly within the domain of a trial, not the extradition hearing.” Holmes said it was not for her to rule on issues of credibility in an extradition hearing. “The proposed evidence could do no more than offer an alternative narrative from that set out” by the United States in its case against Meng, Holmes wrote. “These would take the extradition hearing beyond its proper scope.” Last week, Huawei confirmed that Meng was taking HSBC to court in Hong Kong to access banking records she says will help her battle extradition. In February, she lost a similar legal bid in London. Meng’s extradition battle in Vancouver has entered its final phase. Hearings resume on Monday and are expected to end in mid-May, barring appeals. Washington has accused Huawei of stealing American trade secrets and banned US semiconductor chip makers from selling to it. The case has caused a major diplomatic rift between Canada and China. Meng was arrested on a US warrant during a Vancouver stopover in December 2018 and is being held under house arrest at her Vancouver mansion. Two Canadians — former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor — were detained in China days later in apparent retaliation for Meng’s arrest. The pair have since had virtually no contact with the outside world.
New Delhi: India is likely to block its mobile carriers from using telecom equipment made by China’s Huawei, two government officials said, under procurement rules due to come into force in June.
New Delhi is wary about awarding new technology business to Chinese firms both because of security fears and a desire to get Indian manufacturers to produce more telecoms equipment.
A U.S. campaign to curb Huawei has triggered bans or limits on the use of its equipment around the world but the situation in India has been amplified by strained relations between New Delhi and Beijing over their shared border.
India’s telecoms department said on Wednesday that after June 15 carriers can only buy certain types of equipment from government-approved “trusted sources” and said New Delhi could also create a “no procurement” blacklist. Huawei is likely to feature on this embargoed list, the two officials, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
“We cannot prioritise economic gains if an investment poses national security risk,” one of the officials said.
The telecoms department, which did not comment on Thursday about Huawei, is yet to provide further details on the plans for trusted sources or a procurement blacklist.
However, a third official, who also declined to be named, told Reuters that ZTE Corp, another Chinese firm which has a smaller presence in India, could also be excluded.
Huawei and ZTE are under scrutiny for allegedly installing “backdoor” vulnerabilities to spy for the Chinese government.
Both have denied the allegations and Huawei has previously told Reuters it is ready to enter into a “no backdoor” deal with India to allay security concerns. (https://reut.rs/3bCS9V8)
Huawei and ZTE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Two of India’s three big telecoms carriers, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, use Huawei gear. Any restriction on Huawei gear is likely to push up costs, industry analysts say.
The Chinese firm’s equipment and network maintenance contracts are typically cheaper than European competitors such as Ericsson and Nokia and there is limited availability of such gear in India.
India has begun to fast-track approvals of some of the more than 150 Chinese investment proposals worth over $2 billion it had put on hold after a June standoff between the two neighbours on the disputed Himalayan border.
“We have started giving some approvals to investment proposals even from China, but we will not give any approvals in sectors like telecom infrastructure and financials,” a senior government official told Reuters.
The officials also said that India is unlikely to overturn last year’s ban on more than 100 Chinese mobile apps or allow Chinese companies to bid for stakes in state-run firms such as Air India and refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd.
India plans to raise $23.57 billion in the 12 months from April 1 by selling state-run companies.
India’s finance ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
The India-China border clash, the worst in nearly four decades, had soured already fragile relations and “regaining trust would be a long road from here”, one of the sources said.
India’s technology ministry did not respond to a request for comment on app bans.
NEW DELHI: In a move that will restrict the business of top Chinese vendors such as Huawei and ZTE in India’s 4G telecom expansion and the upcoming 5G, the government on Wednesday took decisive steps towards securing the mobile eco-system by making amendments to the license rules, mandating that post June 15, equipment can be procured only from ‘trusted’ sources that have been approved by a Designated Authority. The move comes amidst growing concerns in the government over “meddling by Chinese elements” into India’s critical infrastructure. “The current amendments have been necessitated by the need to secure the vital and burgeoning Indian telecom space from untrusted vendors and unwanted elements,” top officials told TOI, requesting anonymity.
Also, the government is said to be unhappy with some Indian mobile telecom operators who continued to source telecom network gear from Chinese companies despite the growing tensions between the two countries and in the face of clear indication from the telecom department to go slow on business and collaborations with the neighbouring nation, the officials added. The amendment issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT) on Wednesday said, “With effect from June 15, the licensee (telecom companies) shall only connect ‘trusted products’ in its network and also seek permission from the Designated Authority for upgradation of existing network utilising the telecom equipment not designated as trusted sources.” In December, the government had said that it would prepare a list of “trusted sources”, a move aimed at countering the rising threat of Chinese equipment, after the cabinet committee on security approved the National Security Directive for telecom. As part of the policy, the National Cyber Security Coordinator will act as the Designated Authority and also notify a list of sources from whom “no procurement” can be done. The notification regarding the amendment said, “The government through the Designated Authority will have the right to impose conditions for procurement of telecommunication equipment on grounds of defence of India, or matters directly or indirectly related to thereto, for national security.” The Designated Authority will soon be notifying the categories of equipment for which the security requirement related to trusted sources are applicable. Also, it would notify the associated telecommunication equipment or the so-called ‘trusted products’ that can be deployed. All the telecom companies are mandated to provide any type of information that would be sought on the matter. The amendment, however, said that the changes would not impact ongoing annual maintenance contracts or updates to existing equipment already inducted in the network. The move will effectively keep the Chinese vendors out of the 4G expansion space following the purchase of spectrum worth nearly Rs 78,000 crore by telecom companies. Also, if branded untrusted, the Chinese makers will be out of the lucrative 5G space where auctions may be held in fiscal 2021-22, and network gear deployment thereafter. “It is a very timely decision that has come at a very opportune time when our telecom sector is facing threats of cyber attacks, particularly from our neighbouring country. This step will boost our national security and make our telecom and IT networks more robust and safe,” local body Telecom Export Promotion Council (TEPC) chairman Sandeep Aggarwal said. Tony Verghese, Partner at law firm J Sagar Associates, said the amendment comes in as an “expected move” in light of the 5G auctions. “The curbs imposed by Press Note 3 on FDI, is prompting policy changes in various sectors. The recent incidents allegedly by Chinese hackers, has definitely hastened the process with the government inclined towards a new national strategy to strengthen the country’s security,” Varghese said.
Telecom equipment maker Huawei plans to make electric vehicles under its own brand and could launch some models this year, four sources said, as the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, battered by US sanctions, explores a strategic shift. Huawei Technologies is in talks with state-owned Changan Automobile and other automakers to use their car plants to make its electric vehicles (EVs), according to two of the people familiar with the matter.
Huawei is also in discussions with Beijing-backed BAIC Group’s BluePark New Energy Technology to manufacture its EVs, said one of the two and a separate person with direct knowledge of the matter. The plan heralds a potentially major shift in direction for Huawei after nearly two-years of U.S. sanctions that have cut its access to key supply chains, forcing it to sell a part of its smartphone business to keep the brand alive.
Huawei was placed on a trade blacklist by the Trump administration over national security concerns. Many industry executives see little chance that blocks on the sale of billions of dollars of US technology and chips to the Chinese company, which has denied wrongdoing, will be reversed by his successor. A Huawei spokesman denied the company plans to design EVs or produce Huawei branded vehicles.
“Huawei is not a car manufacturer. However through ICT (information and communications technology), we aim to be a digital car-oriented and new-added components provider, enabling car OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to build better vehicles.”
Huawei has started internally designing the EVs and approaching suppliers at home, with the aim of officially launching the project as early as this year, three of the sources said.
Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business group who led the company to become one of the world’s largest smartphone makers, will shift his focus to EVs, said one source. The EVs will target a mass-market segment, another source said.
All the sources declined to be named as the discussions are private.
Chongqing-based Changan, which is making cars with Ford Motor Co, declined to comment. BAIC BluePark did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Shares of Changan’s main listed company Chongqing Changan Automobile rose 8% after Reuters reported the discussions. BluePark’s shares jumped by their maximum 10% daily limit.
Chinese technology firms have been stepping up their focus on EVs in the world’s biggest market for such vehicles, as Beijing heavily promotes greener vehicles as a means of reducing chronic air pollution.
Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs), including pure battery electric vehicles as well as plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, are expected to make up 20% of China’s overall annual auto sales by 2025.
Industry forecasts put China’s NEV sales at 1.8 million units this year, up from about 1.3 million in 2020.
Huawei’s ambitious plans to make its own cars will see it join a raft of Asian tech companies that have made similar announcements in recent months, including Baidu Inc and Foxconn.
“The novel and complicated U.S. restrictions on semiconductors to Huawei have slowly been strangling the company,” said Dan Wang, a technology analyst with research firm Gavekal Dragonomics.
“So it makes sense that the company is pivoting to less chip-intensive industries in order to maintain operations.”
In the United States, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are also developing auto-related technology or investing in smart-car startups.
Huawei has been developing a swathe of technologies for EVs for years including in-car software systems, sensors for automobiles and 5G communications hardware.
The company has also formed partnerships with automakers such as Daimler AG, General Motors Co and SAIC Motor to jointly develop smart auto technologies.
It has accelerated hiring of engineers for auto-related technologies since 2018.
Huawei was awarded at least four patents related to EVs this week, including methods for charging between electric vehicles and for checking battery health, according to official Chinese patent records.
Huawei’s push into the EV market is currently separate from a joint smart vehicle company it co-founded along with Changan and EV battery maker CATL in November, two of the sources said.
