Huawei
Nokia may replace Huawei as 5G equipment supplier in Portuguese, says report
Nokia is seemingly on the verge of replacing Huawei 5G equipment in the Portuguese. The Finnish firm is reportedly signing new contracts with telecom operators like MNO MEO, snatching the tag of sole supplier from the Chinese phone maker.
Huawei has been the only provider of the 5G equipment in Portuguese for MEO but Nokia is ready to cease the way. The reason is that Portugal’s firms are following EU guidelines, edging out Chinese vendors from the market for the sake of security.
MEO has been looking for an alternative to Huawei 5G network equipment before removing it from cores. Even though the company has removed the Chinese OEM completely from its 5G channels, this doesn’t reflect a full entrance for Nokia.
Contract Signing:
Nokia and MEO did agree on the contract but are yet to sign it. Perhaps the signing ceremony will take place somewhere in the next month. Hinting the details, the President of Nokia mobile networks – Tommi Uitto wrote in an internal blog:
“In recent years, MEO… has been supplied in RAN only by Huawei. It has had a 100% market share in 2G/3g/4G. We are now replacing Huawei in some of the key markets in Portugal.”
Huawei 5G network equipment (Image Credits: Huawei)
Huawei has always been at the top among the list of 5G RAN vendors in the market. It has outperformed Nokia and Ericsson several times, pushing them to cut jobs and look for other areas for their network expansion.
But the recent contract reports clues at the return of Nokia in Portuguese. Tommi mentions in the internal blog that the Finnish firm has been behind in the network race from Huawei years ago, but things may change hereafter. It would be worth seeing how this matter proceeds.
[Source – Reuters]