NEW YORK: US telecoms carrier AT&T has dropped plans to sell Chinese brand Huawei's smartphones in the United States, dealing a setback to the No.3 global phone maker's expansion plans, according to news reports.
The Wall Street Journal, which reported the development Tuesday, gave no reason for AT&T Inc.'s decision. The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong said Huawei Technologies Ltd's vice president for consumer business, Richard Yu, confirmed the move in a text message to the newspaper and wrote, "We have been harmed again."
A Huawei spokesman declined to comment.
Yu told The Associated Press in December the company would announce smartphone sales through a US carrier this week. Huawei sells some models in US electronics stores and online but has a minimal share of an American market in which most sales are through carriers.
Ahead of the planned announcement, Huawei had issued a statement that said, "Over the past five years Huawei has proven itself by delivering premium devices with integrity globally and in the US market. On Tuesday Huawei will introduce new products to the US market, including availability."
Huawei, the world's biggest maker of network gear used by phone companies, suffered a setback in the US market when a congressional report in October 2013 said it was a security risk and warned telecom carriers not to use its equipment.
Last month, members of the US Senate and House intelligence committees sent a letter asking the Federal Communications Commission to review any relationship with Huawei and requested that the FCC get briefed on the security concerns raised in 2012.
The letter also raised concerns about Huawei’s growing smartphone business, now the world's No.3 brand behind Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc.
Few realise Huawei's size.
Since 2012, Huawei has expanded to 170 countries from 140, and now claims 45 of the world's 50 biggest wireless carriers as customers. Huawei, which also runs a popular smartphone brand, made $75 billion overall in 2016. About $26 billion came from its telecom equipment and software business, making it the leader in the $126 billion-a-year global market, according to research-firm IHS Markit Ltd.
Globally, the company's handset business trails Samsung and Apple by shipments. But it leads in China, the biggest market, and says it expects to ship a total of 150 million units this year.
Huawei's shipments rose 16.1% in the latest quarter over a year earlier to 39.1 million handsets, ahead of Apple's 2.6% growth to sales of 46.7 million, according to IDC. Samsung sales expanded 9.5% to 83.3 million units.
In his comments in December, Yu rejected the US security complaints as politically motivated or possibly an attempt by competitors to keep it out of the market.
"They are lying," said Yu. "We are a company that really cares about cybersecurity and privacy protection. We do a lot better than the other vendors."