Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has officially given up on the U.S. telco market -- or, at least, that's what is implied by the literal wording of one executive's "exasperation."
"We are not interested in the U.S. market anymore. Generally speaking, it's not a market that we pay much attention to," said Eric Xu, a Huawei executive vice president, as quoted
by Reuters.
Xu, speaking at Huawei's annual analyst event in Shenzhen, China, was responding to a question about last year's congressional report that pegged Huawei and ZTE as security risks for U.S. companies.
The
Financial Times took the statement at face value, while Reuters left room for the possibility that Xu was just being a bit dramatic.
Xu's statement doesn't appear to apply to the handset market, where Huawei assumedly still has high hopes in the United States. Reuters reported that Xu didn't respond to a question about that.
Why this matters
The U.S. government has made it clear that Huawei's equipment won't be allowed in AT&T or Verizon networks -- which would relegate Huawei and ZTE bit players, at best, in U.S. telecom.
For Huawei to give up on the U.S. telecom market, then, would make a lot of sense. Saying so out loud seems a little unusual but is hardly surprising.
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— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor,
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