Huawei is getting no love in the US. A new report says Verizon is following AT&T's lead and canceling plans to sell phones from the Chinese smartphone maker.
Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, reports that the US government pressured Verizon to drop the phone deal, which throws another wrench in Huawei's plans to expand in the US.
Verizon declined to comment on the report. But the news comes as the Trump administration is considering a preliminary proposal to build a nationalized 5G network as a way to thwart Chinese spying.
The US government is particularly concerned that equipment from Huawei will help China spy on the US, according to Bloomberg. Huawei has been developing 5G technologies, including phones and self-driving tech, which can be sold to carriers worldwide.
In 2012, a US congressional committee declared Huawei a security threat over its alleged ties with the Chinese government, though Huawei rejected the spying accusations.
Five years later, the US remains a tough market for the Chinese vendor to crack. Earlier this month, AT&T dropped plans to sell Huawei's latest flagship phone, the Mate 10 Pro. The product is still available for sale in the US, but only as an unlocked device sold through retailers such as Best Buy and Amazon.
So far, Huawei hasn't commented about Verizon reportedly canceling the phone deal. But at this year's CES, Richard Yu, chief of Huawei's consumer business group, defended his company and slammed US carriers.
Nevertheless, the vendor will have a tough time reaching US consumers without carrier support. It only has a 0.4 percent share of the US smartphone market, according to research firm Kantar Worldpanel Comtech.