Huawei now #2 telecom supplier in the world

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Rahul Tongia <tongia () cmu edu>
Date: November 30, 2009 11:31:30 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Huawei now #2 telecom supplier in the world
Reply-To: tongia () cmu edu

Dave,

I write as an "outsider" not selling any products, but with some industry knowledge and, some years back, extensive 
dealings with N. American industry.  

If Huawei is now so big/dominant, then why is that, a priori,  something "to worry about"? Is it not creative 
destruction, and something that benefits consumers?  The SingleRAN appears to be technologically advanced, or at least 
meeting consumer needs.

Why it might be an issue would be (and I would like to know more on):

1) Are they inappropriately reverse engineering or otherwise using technology they shouldn't?
2) Are the govt. ties to the level that it is unfair business practices?  Many European companies have strong govt. 
ties - one has to remember the Air France first class bugging to remember how bad things have been.  
3) Are there hidden costs (lifecycle) that are unknown? The article claims the operating costs are lower, as opposed to 
just winning on upfront (bid) costs.
4) Are they selling at a loss to create market share?

If they are private, and not public (needing "regular dividends") then that is a financing option available to any 
company. OK, maybe not without some high-level "support" but that in and of itself is highly unlikely to account for 
40-50% discounts.

I get asked by a lot of developing country professionals/govt. officials about Huawei - "how come they are so cheap"? I 
don't have a good answer, and would like to understand better.  The two answer (private ownership and cheap labor) 
don't seem to be enough.  If it is "commodity" products, then the SingleRAN doesn't fit the bill.  

Rahul

p.s. I won't bore folks with details, but I spent almost 3 years a "long" while back (10 yrs ago) during the boom 
designing a national-scale backbone - US entities didn't behave any "better" than what they would complain newbies 
behave like.  The periods of non-disclosure are over, but it's all academic at this point...

On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 3:01 AM, Dave Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:




Begin forwarded message:

> From: Richard Shockey <richard () SHOCKEY US>
> Date: November 30, 2009 2:47:18 PM EST
> To: CYBERTELECOM-L () LISTSERV AOL COM
> Subject: Huawei now #2 telecom supplier in the world
> Reply-To: Telecom Regulation & the Internet <CYBERTELECOM-L () LISTSERV AOL COM>
>
> Well here is something else to worry about. 
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/business/global/30telecom.html?ref=busines
> s
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