NTT Docomo set to ditch Huawei phones over Android fears – report

Japanese operator group NTT Docomo will not offer Huawei smartphones when it launches its 5G network next year, according to a report.

The scoop comes courtesy of Nikkei Asian Review, which chatted to some NTT execs that preferred to keep it on the QT. The reason for this sudden reticence is fairly simple: if Google pulls the plug on Android support for Huawei phones the operator doesn’t want to be stuck with thousands of very expensive bricks that nobody wants to buy.

If this is true then it sets a very alarming precedent for Huawei, especially if the other Japanese operators follow suit. Japan was apparently Huawei’s fifth largest market last year and is right in the middle of the geopolitical arm wrestle between the US and China that has forced Google’s hand when it comes to Android support for Huawei phones.

The Nikkei Asian Review is on good form today, having also learned that Softbank is hoping to launch its 5G network two years ahead of schedule. How great an achievement this is, however, is open to debate, since many 5G networks around the world are already live. If the original projection by Softbank was that it wasn’t going to get its 5G act together until 2022 then it just as well it has belatedly pulled its socks up.