Pressures mount on Huawei as more western countries follow the US lead and call for sanctions or bans. Some operators, most recently Vodafone Group, are also succumbing to government pressure or their own nerves and backing away from the Chinese giant, even though they have been vocal about the risks to their 5G business case if they have only three effective network suppliers to choose from (Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung, if both Huawei and ZTE are blacklisted). Until last week, Huawei senior executives were still taking an upbeat tone even as they repeatedly denied allegations ranging from spying to breaking trade sanctions to stealing industrial secrets. But now the company has warned of job cuts and possible exits from some…