Bluetooth, SD and Wi-Fi alliances quietly reinstate Huawei in defiance of US ban

The Bluetooth, SD and Wi-Fi alliances, which stripped Huawei of membership after US President Donald Trump declared its products a national security risk, have reinstated the Chinese tech giant without any official announcements.

The three major industry nonprofits had dropped Huawei from its membership rosters, after the Trump administration banned US companies from working with the Chinese telecom giant. It was a major blow to Huawei, as the loss of access to these widespread features could have rendered its future phones and other devices unusable.

It turns out that the Chinese company was restored on the member lists of all three alliances, however. The reasons for the move are unclear, with the tech associations not commenting on it in any way. Huawei representatives have only said that their existing products won’t be affected by the US ban and would still support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and secure digital (SD) cards.

This does not mean that the troubles are over for Huawei. Google’s recent revocation of the Android OS license still means its devices will be left without operating system updates and crucial apps – and will force the company to expedite the development of an alternative operating system.

Meanwhile, Huawei is continuing its legal battle against the ban, by filing another lawsuit in Texas on Wednesday. A motion by the company’s lawyers argued that President Trump used the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to target Huawei in violation of due process, as the harsh legislation left it “without opportunity for rebuttal or escape.”

Huawei insist that it has not engaged in spying or intellectual property theft, and that attacks on it are simply the US President taking advantage of his executive powers to give US companies an unfair competitive advantage over their Chinese counterparts.

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