As Huawei Suffers From A US Ban, Nokia Aims To Steal The Show

As the US succeeded in pushing Huawei out of business, Nokia is taking advantage of the situation to catch up with 5G deployment globally.

Nokia on Tuesday said it had signed about 42 commercial 5G deployment contract globally. This puts it at par with the Chinese-owned technology which told Reuters that it had signed 46 5G commercial contracts in 30 countries and has shipped over 100,000 5G base stations.

Huawei is the world’s largest telecommunications maker but has suffered a major business setback after Washington led a campaign, urging allies to restrict Huawei equipment from their 5G networks citing national security as a concern. The US government accuses the Chinese owned firm of possible military espionage and collaborating with Beijing, a claim that Huawei has repeatedly denied. The Shenzhen-based tech firm maintains a stance that it has no ties with Beijing, the military and the security agency in China.

China recently announced the 5G license to accelerate the deployment of 5G rollout. However, the US ban which restricts American firms from supplying to Huawei components still stands as a huddle in implementing projects. This means that Huawei cannot buy US software and hardware to execute new contracts with carriers for 5G infrastructure without an authorisation from the US government. 

In the long run, the US ban favours Nokia which has been a long-time rival. The restrictions compelled US suppliers to cut ties with Huawei and mobile operators in japan and the UK to delay the launch of Huawei mobile phones.  Softbank announced last week that it opted for Nokia and Ericsson for its 5G network deployment over Huawei which was a vendor for its 4G network upgrade. This is yet another loss for Huawei technologies.

The next generation network is outed as an ultra-fast wireless network that will power the next level of internet of things ranging from artificial intelligence to autonomous automobiles. The US is treading on caution not to use equipment that could be used as surveillance, even though it has no proofs to back this claim. Every accusation is built on speculations.  Hence, Huawei called out the US asking that it dropped all illegal actions.

Analysts think that Huawei’s loss is a huge benefit for Nokia and Ericsson which are both major rivals to the Chinese based firm when it comes to supplying global telecom equipment. Analyst at Fitch Ratings said, “if Huawei’s ability to sell and support its network equipment to operators in certain parts of the world is impaired, as the company is currently prevented from doing in the US, Ericsson and Nokia would likely benefit.”

For Nokia, this is great news and it is prepared to steal the show. “At the beginning of one of the most radical technology transitions ever with 4G giving way to 5G- this is Nokia’s time to shine,” said Rajeev Suri, Nokia’s chief executive.