Ban on China's Huawei may hit U.S. rural areas: expert

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The U.S. ban on Chinese telecom giant Huawei would pose a threat to Internet access in the U.S. rural areas, a U.S. expert said Wednesday.

Many rural U.S. broadband providers use Huawei equipment, "which is as good or better than that of the competition, at lower prices and better customer service," Roger Entner, founder and lead analyst at U.S. telecom research firm Recon Analytics, told Xinhua via email.

Washington last week declared a national emergency over what it claimed are technological threats and announced restrictions on the sale and transfer of American technologies to China's Huawei.

"If these small rural telcos need to buy different equipment they have to pay more for it. That means the small rural telcos can either buy less equipment or would need more money to maintain the current pace of rural broadband rollout," he added.

The recent U.S. move to add the Chinese telecom company to a trade blacklist would curb its ability to do business in the United States and has already taken a toll on Wall Street.

Shares of Huawei's major suppliers, including Google, Qualcomm and Broadcom, were pressured.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency