Amidst the ongoing China-US tech war, M1 stands together with Huawei

Not everyone’s putting themselves against Huawei in the ongoing China-United States tech war. While the likes of Google, Microsoft, Intel and other tech giants may have cut ties with the Chinese firm, Huawei should be pleased to know that they’ve still got friends on their side. Like Singapore’s smallest telco, M1. 

In a Straits Times article about M1’s overhauled mobile plans, the telco operator's newly appointed CEO Manjoy Singh Mann assured that the company is definitely not ditching Huawei’s services. For now, at least. 

Along with Nokia, Huawei is a vendor that helps provide for M1’s equipment needs. 

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Mann doesn’t see the M1-Huawei relationship changing anytime soon — Bloomberg reported that the Singaporean telco will continue using Huawei tech if it makes commercial sense.

He did, however, note that  telco operators looking to build their 5G networks could be “vendor agnostic”, as Huawei’s not the only one developing 5G-ready telecommunications equipment. 

Economically, Singapore maintains a tight relationship with China, and it shows in the regulations made here. Earlier this month, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) assured that Huawei’s tech will not be blocked from the country’s 5G network as it wants to encourage vendor diversity in Singapore’s telecommunication systems to “mitigate risks from dependency” on any particular player. 

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The Trump administration, on the other hand, is trying their best (and failing, according to the New York Times) to get their allies to follow suit in blacklisting Huawei on grounds of alleged espionage. After getting ties severed with some of the world’s key tech suppliers, Huawei has since ramped up preparations to build their own hardware and software while also filing a lawsuit against the US government over the “unconstitutional” move. 

ilyas@asiaone.com