Hong Kong, May 23 (IANS): Mobile networks in Asia and Europe have issued suspending orders for Huawei smartphones following the US decision last week to restrict the company's access to American technology, the media reported.
The inclusion of Huawei on an export blacklist means the Chinese company can no longer source software or components from US suppliers without a license. Existing devices are unaffected but the restrictions threaten future Huawei products and its leading position in building super-fast next generation 5G networks, CNN reported.
Vodafone, the world's second largest mobile operator, said on Wednesday that it had paused pre-orders in the UK for the Huawei Mate 20X (5G) smartphone.
"This is a temporary measure while uncertainty exists regarding new Huawei 5G devices," a company spokesperson told CNN Business.
The UK's biggest carrier, EE, is also delaying the introduction of Huawei's new smartphones. The company had touted the Mate 20X in a preview of its 5G network last week.
Japan's top mobile operators took similar steps against another device, the Huawei P30 Lite, earlier on Wednesday. The phone was scheduled to launch in the country later this month.
Leading Japanese telecoms firm NTT Docomo announced that it has stopped taking reservations for the phone, and is "looking into the impact of the US restrictions", Docomo spokesperson Yoshikumi Kuroda said.
Rival carriers KDDI and SoftBank Corp. said they will delay the release of the new Huawei phone.
The suspension of orders is the first tangible evidence that US President Donald Trump's administration's latest escalation of its campaign against Huawei on grounds of national security is hurting the company's business, CNN reported.
Huawei overtook Apple last year to become the world's No. 2 smartphone brand behind Samsung, and it relies on markets outside of China for half of its sales.
The US export ban has forced Google to cut Huawei's new devices off from its Android ecosystem.
A temporary reprieve by the US Commerce Department allows Google to service existing Huawei devices for the next 90 days.