AT&T Pulls Out of Huawei Smartphone Deal Under Pressure from Government

The US government continues to be very concerned with a major Chinese company gaining inroads into the US market with technology products. The government in the past has feared that the Chinese government might gain a backdoor into both government and corporate secrets if Chinese made technology products gain wide acceptance in the US.

Huawei was set to have a deal in place with AT&T that would see the carrier offer its smartphones through a major US telecom career. That deal has now fallen apart after members of the US Senate and House intelligence committees sent a letter on December 20 to the FCC raising concerns about the plans Huawei had with AT&T reports Reuters.

Huawei has now officially stated that its Mate 10 smartphone, the device meant to challenge the iPhone, won’t be sold in the US via a major carrier, but that it would be sold through open channels. Huawei had been expected to sell smartphones through AT&T, a major win for the Chinse firm.

That was part of its effort to expand significantly into the US smartphone market. The Mate 10 is a premium device that launched in October in Europe for $955. Huawei is the third largest smartphone maker in the world behind Apple and Samsung. Losing the AT&T deal will make it much harder for the company to gain inroads in the US.