Brazil’s largest operators snubbed a senior US official who advocated the exclusion of Huawei gear from the country’s 5G market, an apparent blow to the US government’s campaign against the Chinese vendor.
Sources speaking to Reuters said, Telefonica Brasil, Oi, TIM Participacoes refused an invitation from US undersecretary of state for economic growth and the environment Keith Krach, who previously wrote in an article “Huawei is the backbone of China’s global surveillance,” for Brazil’s O Globo newspaper.
The sources said the invitation was “not compatible with free-market choices” the operators are accustomed to, and operators should be free to make decisions best suited for their respective financial gains.
The operators have already installed Huawei equipment for Brazil’s upcoming 5G auction next year and do not support a ban on Huawei.
Recently Oi chose Huawei for its construction of 8,000km of fibre backbone in the Amazon rainforest, a project that had begun in July.
The US government have long called for operators globally to exclude Huawei from future network constructions, accusing the vendor of installing backdoors into networks, enabling the Chinese government to spy on other nations. An accusation Huawei has vehemently denied.
