Huawei’s efforts to appease security concerns in the US appear to be paying off, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that the Chinese vendor is a finalist for a LTE contract deployment with number six operator US Cellular and is also in talks with US agencies to build the country’s first nationwide public-safety network. A final decision on the US Cellular contract is expected in the next few weeks, with Huawei facing competition for the deal from Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent. Meanwhile Huawei plans to bid on public-safety network deals in the US and the vendor is already working with the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology to test Huawei’s LTE technology for use in public-safety networks.

Huawei’s US troubles have been well documented. There are domestic concerns around the company’s alleged links to the Chinese military, its attitude to intellectual property rights, claims that it is unfairly supported by the Chinese state, and allegations that the company represents a threat to US national security. In February Huawei was moved to publish an open letter attempting to address these suspicions. Certainly, success with either the US Cellular LTE or public-safety deal would be a huge fillip for the vendor, as it has so far only closed smaller deals in North America with Clearwire and Cox Communications. Earlier this year Huawei dropped its takeover of US server firm 3Leaf following a review by the influential Committee of Foreign Investment, a US government agency, which recommended the deal should not go ahead. And at the end of last year Huawei (along with ZTE) was rejected from bidding for a Sprint Nextel contract because of security concerns even though it submitted bids that were reportedly lower than rivals.