Huawei to sell Huawei Marine stake to Hengtong: Reuters
Reuters reports that Huawei has reached an agreement to sell its 51% stake in submarine cable deployment and services company Huawei Marine to Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd. The news service cites a buyer’s filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange by Hengtong as the source of its information. The sale price was not included in the filing, Reuters says.
The filing comes as Huawei comes under attack by the U.S. on multiple fronts. The company has been placed on the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List, which bans U.S. companies from supplying Huawei technology without a special license (see “Huawei faces U.S. technology access ban” and “Department of Commerce slightly eases Huawei restrictions”). The current U.S. government budget contains provisions that forbid the use of Huawei technology in government networks (see "Huawei sues U.S. over ban on sales to government"). And representatives of the U.S. government are suggesting to allies that it will not share information with these countries if they use Huawei technology in their networks. Theoretically, that could include submarine networks. There is no indication yet that the sale is related to any of these actions.
Huawei Marine offers project management, system design, manufacture and integration, project implementation, and customer support services to submarine cable operators.
The buyer’s filing, submitted May 31, states that Hengtong proposes to buy Huawei’s share of the joint venture (Global Marine Systems Ltd. of the UK holds the remaining shares) with a combination of cash and stock. The proposed buyer is part of the Hengtong Group, which is already active in the submarine network business, principally in the provision of submarine power cables and services for offshore oil and gas platform communications.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.