Huawei catches a 5G break in the Dominican Republic

Earlier this month, The Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel) launched the tender of 5G frequencies in the 700 GHz and 3.6 GHz band, with nationwide deployment scheduled to begin on November 3rd 2021. In a more recent development, the government of the Dominican Republic said that the specifications of the international tender for the implementation of 5G networks in the country will not exclude Huawei.

The President of the Republic Luis Abinader implied that the country’s need to be “more competitive, dynamic, more connected” is partially behind the controversial decision to allow the Chinese vendor to take part in the Dominican Republic’s next-generation networks.

“The implementation of the 5G network will be a great step in the history of the country’s telecommunications development, which will translate into a profound digital transformation,” he said. “The winning company must implement a 5G-infrastructure deployment with national coverage at the end of five years.”

This is certainly welcome news for Huawei, whose founder Ren Zhengfei has said that he sees no end in sight to the sanctions placed on the company by the U.S. even with Trump no longer in office. He believes it is “extremely unlikely” that the Biden Administration will lift the ban on the company.

As of January 2020

The bans, either complete or partial, have spread to other countries such as Australia and the U.K., with others like Denmark, Germany and Sweden considering following suit. The pressure this trend has placed on the Huawei resulted in the sale of the company’s consumer smartphone brand Honor.

Ren told reporters, however, that Huawei “can still survive even without relying on phone sales.”