Huawei appeals to Federal Trade Commission after government action to limit access to US market

Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest telecoms equipment vendor and second-largest smartphone brand, has appealed to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for a hearing into its restricted business opportunities, saying it has been unfairly targeted by the US government over national security concerns.

“Open competition promotes both innovation and investment,” says Huawei in a filing dated August 20 to the trade commission that was also entered into the record at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday. “Unfortunately, competition in the US telecommunications market has not been fully open for a long time. Instead, Huawei and certain other foreign entities have faced, and continue to face, regulatory intervention that has inhibited their ability to compete on merit.”

Huawei listed six examples in the filing, one in 2010 and five in 2018, where government action has cut or stopped US sales of Huawei gear – including the FCC’s move this year to bar US carriers from using Federal funds to purchase Huawei networking equipment. Huawei said all of these actions – purportedly to protect US national security – have severely restricted its ability, and the ability of others, to compete in the US market.

“As these comments will make clear, government interference that restricts competition results in significant costs to consumers in the form of higher prices, lower quality, reduced investment, and lower incentives to innovate,” said Huawei. The company is appealing to the FTC as its mandate is to protect consumers and industries from unfair competition.

These “unfounded allegations” by the US government that the company is a security risk, have kept it out of the country’s telecommunications equipment market, costing American consumers US$20 billion in lost savings from the country’s development of mobile networks, Huawei said in the July FCC filing.