Huawei is rolling the dice on its US operations by inviting authorities to see if it actually is a national security risk.
And why not? It’s been stymied at every turn because of (take your pick) its secret PLA links/the combined effect of US paranoia and lobbying by competitors.
Having followed the company for a dozen years, I'm offering these humble suggestionsfor how the Huawei guys can win friends and influence American people (or at least not get thrown off every network tender):
1. Cut to the chase. Who actually are your shareholders? Your website says the company union owns 98.58% and Ren Zhengfei 1.42%. Have that audited and confirmed, then shout it from the rooftops.
2. Why even mention the Cisco patent case? Sure, Cisco dropped it, but you did stop selling the Quidway routers that were alleged to be full of Cisco code.
3. Get an American chairman and CEO to front the company. It can only help. And it shows you trust at least two locals.
4. Foreign firms in China get beaten up for just treating it as a place to make money. Same everywhere. It wouldn’t hurt to sponsor a junior baseball team, or donate telemedicine gear to an inner-city hospital. You’ve got 1,000 staff in the US – if they’re not already doing stuff in the community, I’m sure they’d love to.
5. If there’s a common theme here, it’s about how you talk to the rest of the world. Make your US website more than just a copy of the Chinese version; there’s only so much you can tell us about the single RAN solution. Talk to Americans the way they’re used to being talked to (likewise the Brazilians, the Russians, Algerians, etc.). Put some human beings into it, and make yourself sound less like some China-bots.
If this doesn't work, you'll at least have shown up the Americans as two-faced, red-baiting protectionists. And they'll fall further down the broadband charts with that expensive European kit.