Huawei networks has had multiple bans from many countries for supplying 5G network equipment after the US accused them of spying for the CCP(Chinese Communist Party). The latest ban took place in Sweden when the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) ordered a ban on Chinese companies, which included Huawei after a court order that excluded Huawei from procuring 5G equipment.
Ericsson disappointed with the ban, calls on Swedish government to reverse it
Ericsson’s CEO criticized the decision of his home country Sweden for banning Huawei.
“I belong in that category that believes competition makes us longer term a better company. It may be painful shorter term but longer term it drives us to be more innovative and make better products for our customers,” Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm told the Financial Times.
Ericsson had won contracts from all 3 major Chinese telecom networks for supplying radio equipment for fifth generation networks. Unfortunately, their rival, Finnish based Nokia hasn’t won any contracts in China yet. Huawei too hit back at the Swedish government saying that banning them would only hinder competition, and denied it was a security risk. They even appealed against the Swedish court’s decision to exclude it from 5G networks.
China’s foreign ministry has said that Sweden should address its incorrect decision to ban Huawei and ZTE to avoid a negative impact on Swedish companies in China.Ekholm said he expected the overall rollout of the new telecoms networks to be delayed, adding the political focus in Europe should be on rolling out 5G as fast as possible.
“Think about 4G – the debate in Europe was: what is the killer app? The Americans and Chinese rolled out 4G fastest and the app economy for consumers is now dominated by American and Chinese firms,” he said.
“5G is going to be the same but for enterprise. Slowing the rollout of 5G is a risk for the economy. Europe risks falling behind again.”
Separately, in another post, finance chief Carl Mellander told the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecoms conference that fair competition benefited the entire industry ecosystem. He also said Ericsson was growing its market share in Europe, where Huawei is facing increasing restrictions.
“We will continue to take market share where there is an opportunity which is truly value creating,” he said.
“For the right cases, perhaps in urban areas for example where we know that the traffic will continue to grow, (or) with leading operators (…) those cases we are happy to step into, even if it sometimes needs a bit of margin dilution in the initial stages.”
