Huawei launches pilot 5G project with major Russian telecom firm amid US trade row

Blacklisted in the US and a number of Western countries, Chinese tech giant Huawei has announced an agreement with one of Russia’s leading internet and mobile providers to develop 5G networks in Russia.

Huawei will assist Russian telecom company MTS in “the pilot launch of fifth-generation networks in 2019 and 2020,” MTS said in a statement. The parties signed an agreement at the Kremlin on Wednesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, also attended the ceremony, as the latter is in Russia on an official three-day visit.

Huawei’s deputy chairman, Guo Ping, said the company was “very happy” to seal a deal “in such a strategically important area like 5G.”

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The road map for the upcoming year indicates that Huawei will implement 5G and IoT technology on the basis of the existing MTS infrastructure and enhance the company’s LTE network.

Huawei Deputy Chairman Guo Ping shakes hands with MTS President Alexey Kornya. ©  AFP / Maxim Shipenkov / Pool

Huawei is stepping into the emerging Russian 5G market after the company was barred from building fifth-generation networks by the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand.

In May, another large Russian mobile provider, Beeline, revealed it will use Huawei equipment to modernize Moscow’s telecom networks.

Huawei, the world’s biggest telecom equipment supplier and second largest smartphone manufacturer, is facing backlash from the US and other Western states since the trade war unfolded between Washington and Beijing back in 2018. Trump administration accuses the tech giant of building backdoors for spying into its products and working in concert with the Chinese government, a claim which the company strongly denies.

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In May, the US put Huawei on an “entity list,” severely restricting American companies from trading with the Chinese tech firm. In response, Beijing threatened to issue its own blacklist of companies which damage the interests of Chinese business.