Huawei’s global outlook continues to decline as a growing number of countries consider banning or placing restrictions on the use of its equipment in their operators’ respective 5G networks. 

The battle lines have largely been drawn along divisions between the East and West, but there are some exceptions. Fresh analysis and a corresponding interactive map published by Bloomberg categorizes every country into five groups: allowed, on the fence, unlikely to use, restrictions, and a ban in effect. 

The U.S. government and some of its allies’ efforts to cripple Huawei have been met with mixed results, but the sustained push has effectively put the world’s largest telecommunications equipment vendor on the defense. Top U.S. executives at the company have effectively copped to a lack of ambition in the U.S. market due to the challenging environment, and Huawei’s top brass recently framed its near-term goals as a struggle to fix holes and survive. 

The United Kingdom government imposed the most recent ban on Huawei equipment, requiring all of the company’s gear to be removed from its networks by 2027. It joined the U.S., Australia, Japan, and Taiwan in foisting an outright ban against Huawei.

Countries that remain on the fence with respect to Huawei include Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Netherlands, Thailand, and New Zealand, according to Bloomberg’s appraisal. 

France and Belgium are currently the only countries with limited restrictions in place against the use of Huawei equipment in 5G networks, but other countries that remain on the fence or unlikely to allow the vendor access are expected to join this group. 

The countries deemed unlikely to allow the use Huawei’s 5G equipment include India, Vietnam, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, and Czech Republic.

Finally, the countries that have officially allowed Huawei’s 5G equipment to be installed span a wide geographic area and massive populations but the list of total countries is relatively short. China, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa have formally given operators the green light to use the Chinese vendor’s 5G gear to date, according to Bloomberg’s “Huawei Barometer” map. 

Much of Africa, the Middle East, most countries in Eastern Europe and South America, all of Central America, and Mexico have yet to render a formal decision or indicate where they might land on the Huawei question. 

The embattled company makes no qualms about the fact that the U.S. government-led campaign has worsened relations overall, but it continues to claim its equipment and services are secure and provide no link to Chinese government espionage back channels.

The U.S. government and other Western countries maintain that Huawei poses a national security risk, while also accusing the company of espionage, conspiring to steal trade secrets, and sharing private data with China’s surveillance apparatus.