Crouching tiger Huawei ready to pounce on the West

This letter came on the back of Huawei's stepping down from a deal to acquire storage firm 3Leaf after the Committee of Foreign Investment in the US raised concerns about the company's supposed links to the Chinese government.

This comes, in part, from Zhengfei's previous positions within China's People's Liberation Army, where he became deputy director of the Engineering Corps, a role that had "no military rank", according to the Huawei open letter.

Clearly this is a major stumbling block for the company, as the US market will surely be one Huawei recognises as central to cracking the West, both for sales and for prestige. If UK consumers take note of such rumours, false or not, the brand will suffer.

However, just as US technology vendors appear more than happy to do business with Huawei, businesses in the UK also appear to have no issues.

The company has just been chosen by mobile operator Everything Everywhere to upgrade its entire 2G network and prepare it for 4G deployments in the future, a major win for Huawei to help further awareness of its abilities.

The equipment will be put through stringent tests to comply with GCHQ standards, which could suggest a degree of wariness by Everything Everywhere. But the operator told V3.co.uk that this is standard practice.

"We have a rigorous security process in place that ensures all our partners and work undertaken by them meets our required standards," a spokesperson said.

Huawei was also set to install equipment on the London Underground to provide a mobile network in time for the 2012 Olympics, suggesting that the UK government had no qualms about dealing with the Chinese firm.

That deal was scuppered, instead, by the conflicting commercial interests of the network operators involved in the deal. It looks unlikely to be resurrected, ruling out what would have been a headline installation for Huawei in the UK.

Nevertheless, it is clear that Huawei has its sights firmly set on cracking Western markets, whatever difficulties it faces.

Other mobile firms would do well to keep an eye on the tiger crouched in their midst, ready to emerge from the undergrowth and stake its claim in the increasingly competitive mobile jungle.