T-Mobile, Sprint, and their parent companies want to get the T-Mo-Sprint merger approved, and they're willing to change their network equipment to help facilitate it.
Deutsche Telekom and SoftBank, T-Mobile and Sprint's respective parent companies, are expected to swap out their Huawei networking equipment in an effort to help get the proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger approved. It's said that DT and SoftBank have been pressured by U.S. government officials to ditch their Huawei equipment over concerns that Huawei has ties to the Chinese government and that their equipment could be used for cyber espionage.
Deutsche Telekom has said that it's reviewing its vendor plans in Germany and other European markets. Meanwhile, a report from Nikkei this week said that SoftBank is swapping out its Huawei-made 4G network equipment for tech from Ericsson and Nokia.
Huawei has previously said that reports of it having ties to the Chinese government and that its equipment could be used for spying are unfounded. However, that hasn't stopped U.S. government officials from expressing concerns about the company. Earlier this year, it's said that the U.S. government pressured Verizon and AT&T to back out of carrying Huawei phones, including the Mate 10 Pro.
Today's report says that with Deutsche Telekom and SoftBank removing their Huawei networking equipment, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) could give the T-Mobile-Sprint merger its approval as soon as next week. That doesn't mean that the merger will be fully approved, though, as it's still facing review from the FCC and DoJ.
