In an earlier statement, founder Ren Zhegfei said that the company had prepared for this possibility. The company previously acknowledged that it had a backup operating system in case it was cut off from Android, although it has yet to talk about rolling out the alternative software. Huawei could technically use Android’s open source version on its devices, although it would lose proprietary Google apps and thus the Play Store.

While Huawei is clearly hoping Google can help, it’s not clear there’s much it can do. Even with a temporary license, Huawei can only help existing phone users. Google still can’t help with new devices during that period, and it can’t offer its proprietary software at all afterward. So long as the business ban persists, Huawei likely won’t have much choice but to explore alternatives.