Huawei plans to license all its 5G patents

With a ban that will effectively prevent Huawei from doing business with US companies that will come into effect in November, it seems Huawei had an idea that could potentially allow it to stay in Western markets: a single licensing deal would give it a buyer unlimited access to Huawei 5G's current patents and technologies.

In a recent interview with The Economist, Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei said the deal would allow anyone to license their patents to review and modify Huawei's source code. Huawei 5G equipment.

As the world's leading manufacturer of 5G network equipment, Huawei has a clear interest in preserving its ability to sell 5G technologies outside of China, as the US ban would force US carriers (as well as carriers from many allied countries) to use Nokia or Ericsson, which are two of Huawei's biggest 5G networking competitors. In addition, the United States tried to use their decreasing influence on their allies to convince other countries to also ban Huawei to install networks inside of their borders.

However, at this point, Huawei's patent licensing agreement could be more a last minute reflection than a concrete proposal, because Ren said that Huawei had not set price for this that it would cost to acquire Huawei's 5G license and that it is currently doing it "no idea" of companies that might actually be interested in the transaction.

Huawei's test balloon for a compromise comes just weeks before the White House prepares to engage in new high-level trade talks with China. The gem of Chinese technology has been perceived by many as a bargaining chip in the Trump administration's trade war, a perception that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has tried to contradict.

If the agreement were to be reached, it would almost instantly create a new player in the 5G race, as countries look for suppliers to help upgrade existing cell networks with next-generation capabilities.

But as Huawei must also fight against the idea of ​​losing access to Android – which until now was the operating system used on all smartphones in the company – all that would allow Huawei to maintain a presence outside from Asia probably deserves an exploration, at least from their point of view.