NEW YORK (AP) — News reports say U.S. telecoms carrier AT&T has dropped plans to sell Chinese brand Huawei’s smartphones in the United States, dealing a setback to the No. 3 global phone maker’s expansion plans.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified sources, gave no reason for AT&T Inc.’s decision. The South China Morning Post of Hong Kong said Huawei Technologies Ltd.’s vice president for consumer business, Richard Yu, confirmed the move in a text message to the newspaper and wrote, “We have been harmed again.”
Yu told The Associated Press in December the company would announce smartphone sales through a U.S. carrier this week.
Huawei suffered a setback in the U.S. market when a congressional report in 2012 said it was a security risk and warned phone companies not to buy its equipment.