Huawei Striving to Establish Foothold in States with Second-Tier Wireless Carriers

Implications: 1.      Huawei implies that it is making headway in getting meaningful attention from the large wireless service providers in the U.S. 2.      It states “we’re between steps two (land[ing] some contracts) and three (getting accepted by the four Tier 1 cellular carriers.)” 3.      There is a recent report of an additional award for Huawei in the States.

Analysis:  If one does a Google search, there is a current item about Huawei that indicates another win for the company.  The actual source article points out that the supplier has already made penetration in the U.S. with Leap Wireless as well as having MetroPCS and Alltel selling its handsets and data cards.   ClearTalk had also seemingly offered a contract to Huawei to build its network – although there was a report in Telephony that ZTE took over the project.  With more modest revenue growth expected in the future, wireless carriers will be increasingly interested in reducing the cost of capital expenditures. 

A smaller carrier like Leap Wireless is more at ease in dealing with a newcomer.  It is probably only a matter of time before AT&T and the other big three wireless carriers in the U.S. take a hard look at Huawei.  At least the Chinese vendor has an appreciation for the more stringent technological demands in the States. 

In moving towards step three mentioned above, it might be assumed that T-Mobile USA, given the relationship that Huawei has with T-Mobile International, could be the first wireless carrier in the U.S. to deploy its equipment.

It is interesting to note that one of the key ways that Japanese telecom vendors, including NEC, made initial inroads into the U.S. was with wireless equipment including microwave radios.