The US Commerce Department has granted a 90-day extension for Huawei’s temporary general license which is set to expire this week.
According to US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, “The Temporary General License extension will allow carriers to continue to service customers in some of the most remote areas of the United States who would otherwise be left in the dark.”
However, “Extending the Temporary General License won’t have a substantial impact on Huawei’s business either way,” a Huawei spokesman said in a statement.
What’s notable to Huawei smartphone users however, is that the new extension is likely to allow Huawei/ Honor devices to receive software updates and patches which have been the case for the previous two extensions.
The only caveat to it is that only smartphones which were certified by Google prior to the US trade ban are eligible for these updates. This means that the newly announced Huawei Mate 30 series smartphones will remain inaccessible to licensed Google apps and services.
In related news, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has recently revealed during an interview with Bloomberg that licenses for U.S. companies to sell components to Huawei Technologies Co will come “very shortly”.
Therefore, there is a possibility that the so-called special license could be issued to Google in the near future that could reinstate their business ties with Huawei.
When this happens, Huawei will be able to bring all the essential, licensed Google apps and services to their latest Mate 30 series smartphones.
