Huawei Technologies, one of the mainland's leading telecommunications equipment vendors, plans to sell a stake in its mobile devices business to foreign investors in exchan

ge for help to establish a presence in the United States market, sources said.

The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported that the company was being advised by Morgan Stanley as it sought to sell a multibillion-dollar stake in the business.

A telecommunications analyst yesterday said Huawei needed foreign help or US-based investors to break into the US market, because company founder and president Ren Zhengfei's military background had caused alarm in some US regulatory circles.

"It's quite politically sensitive ... if Huawei wants to sell products in the US, they need some help," said Duncan Clark, the managing director of BDA China, a telecommunications research house.

Earlier this year, Huawei suffered a setback after a consortium of Bain Capital and Huawei failed to get US approval to acquire 3Com Corp for US$2.2 billion.

An industry source said yesterday Huawei faced stagnant performance in North America and Australia, although overall sales grew 45 per cent to US$16 billion last year.

"Europe and Asia were the growth engines ... with growth rates of 160 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively, last year," the source said.