Huawei set to sue FCC for defamation (and the ban thing, obviously)

Dragon got claws

AFTER NEARLY a year of biting its tongue, embattled Chinese tech maker Huawei is finally showing that it has claws.

It is being reported that Huawei is preparing to file for a court battle against the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after a ruling last week that said it would not offer subsidies to carriers who elected to use equipment from suspect companies (including Huawei and ZTE) in their infrastructure.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a filing is set to be made next week in the fifth circuit court of appeals in New Orleans, claiming that the ban is illegal.

Huawei says the claims are "based on selective information, innuendo, and mistaken assumptions." and that the FCC "singled out Huawei based on national security, but it provides no evidence".

Many smaller rural operators are said to have Huawei equipment already installed and won't be able to afford to replace it, despite a slush fund being made available for the purpose by US federal authorities - or to put it Huawei's way, the ban "will have profound negative effects on connectivity for Americans in rural and underserved areas across the United States."

So, after a quiet period, it looks like Alien vs Huawei is back on. Yesterday it was reported that Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is due to start extradition proceedings in January 2020, has instructed her legal team to fight the televising of proceedings, lest it goads the Trump and tarnishes the legal system.

It's not all bad news for Huawei, however. The company recently confirmed that Microsoft had been issued with a licence to resume trade with the Chinese firm. However, the one it really hopes for, Google, is still proving elusive, and therefore leaves it vulnerable, not knowing even what operating system its next flagship devices will run on. μ