Huawei says it will ramp up 5G wireless development efforts

China’s embattled telecommunications firm and smartphone maker Huawei Technology Co. Ltd. is rolling up its sleeves, vowing to push on with its 5G network development despite its technology being banned by several Western nations.Huawei Chairman Liang Hua told media Tuesday that the firm���s operations remain “normal” even as it faces a “complicated environment” stemming from the bans and the recent arrest of Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou.“In the face of a crisis of confidence from the West, first we must do our own work well, and continue to build Huawei’s competitiveness in the field of 5G,” Liang said. “We believe that customers will make their own decisions. “To that end, Huawei is planning to release its first 5G-enabled smartphone in the first half of next year, and will achieve “commercial scale” of those phones by the second half of 2019, Liang said.“Huawei has obtained 26 5G commercial contracts and signed cooperation agreements with more than 50 partners globally,” he added. “The company has delivered more than 10,000 5G-oriented base stations, ranking first globally.”Huawei has hit the headlines repeatedly this year for all the wrong reasons. Several Western nations, led by the United States, have banned government agencies from buying its networking products in the past 12 months, citing concerns about security vulnerabilities and the company’s ties to China’s military. Last week, the Czech Republic Prime Minister Andrej Babis ordered his office to stop using Huawei phones. Also last week, French telecommunications firm Orange SA said it will remove Huawei equipment from the most sensitive parts of its networks. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s BT Group Plc recently said it plans to do the same.