There's got to be Huawei we can defeat Chinese tech giant, thinks US attorney-general. Aha, let's buy stake in Ericsson and Nokia

US attorney-general William Barr has urged the United States to buy a controlling stake in Nokia and Ericsson to build a competitor to Huawei. In a speech made at the DoJ's China Initiative Conference in Washington, the nation's legal advisor in chief said America and its allies need to be "actively considering" proposals for …

[Sanguma]

Re: [Hephalump] in the Room

"holier-than-thou" - my word for that is "sacrosanctimonious"..

[MacroRodent]

Re: Elephant in the Room

As noted by someone earlier, both are publicly traded companies, with "owners" all around the world. If Barr wants U.S to buy either of them, it is hard to stop it, if they have the wads of cash to do it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Barr should be careful what he asks for

A buddy of mine used to work for Nokia. Went to meetings in Finland. Said he hated going to meetings there with his boss. In the sauna.

"I don't see why I have to get naked with my boss just to have a meeting."

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Barr should be careful what he asks for

No different from "I don't see why I have to wear a suit and tie to visit a customer site."

[Anonymous Coward]

We've done it before

About a decade ago the US bought a $51b stake in General Motors and look how well that worked out.

Oh, wait a minute.

[druck]

Re: We've done it before

Not to forget what a roaring success it was when a US company last bough a bit of Nokia.

[PhilipN]

Attorney General?

WTF has it got to do with him?

[Kernel]

What's really amusing about all this is that there is already a lot of cutting-edge research and development of communications infrastructure carried out in the US - by Nokia Bell Labs at their Menlow Park campus.

[Anonymous Coward]

For how much longer?

If I were Nokia, I'd be repatriating it before the US government decides it comes under National Security and annexes it.

[sanmigueelbeer]

The Americans moved factories offshore -- "to cut cost", they say. Instead of seeing the prices of Chinese-made goods go down, it continuously increased.

The Chinese then reverse-engineered the same goods and started selling them at a fraction of the American-branded ones -- and made money.

I'm just saying ... IF the Chinese are able to manufacture something and make money then something is really, really wrong with the Yanks' "system".

[sanmigueelbeer]

White House dismisses idea of US buying Nokia, Ericsson to challenge Huawei

White House dismisses idea of US buying Nokia, Ericsson to challenge Huawei

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: White House dismisses idea of US buying Nokia, Ericsson to challenge Huawei

MRDA ...... They would say that, wouldn't they.

[sanmigueelbeer]

Deutsche Telekom tells Nokia to shape up

Deutsche Telekom tells Nokia to shape up

the German group considered Nokia the worst performer among all suppliers in 5G tests and deployments

[Adrastus]

Boris's motive

During our recent election Corbyn and co illustrated how backward the UK's internet infrastructure was vis-a-vis the OECD mean. We lag because Thatcher curtailed BT's bid to provide a fibre-optic connection to every dwelling in return for pay TV by landline. She had an aversion to state monopoly. Ofcom is composed of disfunctional wankers who think a multiplicity of rent seekers constitute adequate competition to deliver an optimum. Even among the ill-informed this ideological drivel should have been displaced by the recent revelations. I suppose Boris's advisors hope to compensate (in part at least) for our existing inadequate coms by utilizing Huawei technology to deliver 5g timeously.

[AndyD 8-)₹]

While panicking about which foreign 5G is best/ safest no-one is considering the possibility that 5G is NOT the way forward (there aren't enough rural lampposts for a start!).

[fredesmite]

300M people in Amurika

And the US gvmt wants to invest in Sweden and Finland for 5G ?