Light Reading Exclusive: Sprint Is Still Using Chinese Equipment in Its US Network

Revelation Will Bring National Communications and Data Security Topic Back Into the Spotlight


NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jan 25, 2016) - Major US network operator Sprint is still using cellular network equipment sourced from Chinese manufacturer Huawei despite assurances in 2013 that the technology would be replaced or removed to assuage US government security concerns, Light Reading has exclusively revealed.

Sprint had vowed in March 2013 to expunge its network of technology supplied by Huawei in order to receive clearance for its acquisition by Japanese company SoftBank, a $21 billion-plus deal that went through in July 2013.

That promise was made because Huawei was one of the communications network technology companies cited in October 2012 as a security risk by the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which recommended that US network operators should not do business with Chinese technology suppliers.

Light Reading's revelations will ignite the national security debate once more, perhaps even calling into question the verdict of the Committee.

"The fallout from this revelation will reach well beyond Sprint's network," says Steve Saunders, Founder and CEO of Light Reading. "Light Reading will investigate whether the US government acted in the country's best interests by effectively banishing Chinese manufacturers from Tier 1 networks in North America, or was -- as some service provider executives have recently told us -- guilty of blatant protectionism." 

You can read the full story on Light Reading, the world's leading website for the communications networking community that prides itself on its independent voice. See:
Surprise! Sprint Still Has Huawei in its Network

http://www.lightreading.com/mobile/4g-lte/surprise!-sprint-still-has-huawei-in-its-network/d/d-id/720373 

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Light Reading
Media Contact:
Steve Saunders
917-446-2669
saunders@lightreading.com