As expected, the United States has extended Huawei’s temporary export license for yet another 90 days. This will be the third time the U.S. government has extended the permission granted to the Chinese telecommunications giant.
Huawei’s last 90-day extension expired yesterday, so this announcement was timely. The U.S. government says the extension is granted to support the existing infrastructure built by Huawei in the country as a number of rural carriers in the country are dependent on Huawei and ZTE’s telecommunications equipment.
Making the announcement, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said:“The Temporary General License extension will allow carriers to continue to service customers in some of the most remote areas of the United States who would otherwise be left in the dark. The Department will continue to rigorously monitor sensitive technology exports to ensure that our innovations are not harnessed by those who would threaten our national security.”
Interestingly, this 90-day reprieve also allows Google to support Huawei’s existing Android-based smartphones. However, this extension does not apply to new models, so recently launched devices like the Mate 30 Pro won’t still be able to run Google applications.
