Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd has hired as a consultant Michel Temer, a former president of Brazil, to give the Chinese company legal advice on the development in the country of its fifth-generation wireless telecommunications business , the NetEase website reports.

The Chinese website quotes a written statement issued by Huawei as saying its employment of Mr Temer, a lawyer and academic, shows its commitment to transparency for all stakeholders.

The report says an auction of Brazilian radio spectrum for 5G networks originally scheduled for March 2020 is expected to go ahead soon, having been postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the NetEase website says.

In November the BN Americas website quoted Huawei Brazil’s head of government and public affairs, Bruno Zitnick, as saying the company had a budget of 40 million reals (about US$7.32 million) for research and development in Brazil last year.