Huawei CFO Arrested in Canada on U.S. Request; O2 UK Blames Ericsson for Network Outage

Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, has been arrested in Canada at the request of U.S. authorities, sparking a sharp diplomatic and market response. The 46‑year‑old executive, daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, faces allegations of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.

In the same week, O2, a Telefonica‑owned mobile operator, blamed its network outage on its equipment supplier Ericsson. The failure cut data services for O2’s 25 million customers and affected the 7 million users on partner networks such as Giffgaff, Lycamobile, Sky and Tesco.

SoftBank’s domestic telecom arm also experienced a service disruption in Japan, just days before its planned IPO. The venture, valued at US$21 billion, saw its shares dip over 5 % following the announcement of Meng’s arrest.

Huawei publicly demanded Meng’s immediate release, calling the arrest “harassment” of a top executive. Beijing’s Commerce Ministry confirmed that negotiations with the U.S. would resume within 90 days, following President Trump’s meeting with Premier Xi in Argentina.

Canadian authorities reported that Meng was taken into custody on December 1. A court hearing is scheduled for Friday, while the U.S. and China continue to grapple over security concerns surrounding Huawei and its rival ZTE, which recently reached a US$892 million settlement with U.S. authorities.

O2 and Ericsson Apologise for Network Outage

Ericsson UK attributed the outage to “faulty software.” In a joint statement, O2 and Ericsson apologized to affected customers and pledged full restoration of 3G services by Thursday evening, while 4G recovery efforts continued.

O2 serves 25 million users directly and supports an additional 7 million via partner networks, underscoring the breadth of the disruption.

Mike Walton, CEO of Opsview, warned that large‑scale outages, such as those recently seen at Microsoft and Facebook, highlight the need for comprehensive IT monitoring across all infrastructure and applications. “Robust visibility can reduce detection time and prevent reputational damage,” he said.

(Also see: ZTE Corporation reaches a US$892m settlement with US authorities)

(Also see: TalkTalk wants to stop talktalking, but software vendors are bursting to tell more…soon)

Report by Jeremy Cowan, editorial director of IoT Now.