Japanese budget network carrier IIJ has now resumed selling new Huawei devices from this week after the comment from U.S. President Donald Trump which signaled that he would ease up restrictions on exporting components to Huawei.
For those who are unaware, Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ) was among the carriers that delayed the Huawei P30 and P30 Lite smartphones, as well as the company’s MediaPad M5 Lite 8-inch tablet, over fears stemming from the American restrictions amid the trade war.
Commenting on this development, IIJ spokesperson said that the “comprehensive” decision-making process behind the move to start selling Huawei devices comes after the talks with the manufacturers as well as Trump’s comments.
Recently, Trump had tweeted that at the request of American technology companies and Chinese President Xi Jinping, “I agreed to allow Chinese company Huawei to buy products from them which will not impact our National Security.”
The Huawei smartphones, which the carrier has now resumed selling, were initially planned to go on sale from May. However, after the ban on Huawei by the United States, the launch was postponed as it was feared that the Chinese giant will lose access to key software and technologies, including Google’s Android mobile OS.
Also, IIJ spokesperson confirmed that they have received assurances from Huawei that “software and security updates would remain usable as they have been until now.” Further, Huawei has also updated its website on June 25 with a reassurance to users that the clash with the Trump administration would not affect its products.
Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ) is now selling the Chinese giant’s P30 for 69,800 yen (approximately $644) and the P30 Lite for 29,800 yen (~$277). On the other hand, the Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite 8-inch tablet is being sold for 24,800 yen, roughly $230.
However, we are yet to hear any such development from other Japanese telecom operators. It remains to be seen if other carriers, including NTT Docomo, KDDI, and SoftBank Corp. follows the suite in selling new Huawei devices.
(Via)
