Ericsson, Nokia assure telcos of speedy 5G rollout

Kolkata: Ericsson and Nokia are learnt to have assured key clients, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, of speedy 5G network rollouts after the spectrum allotment, in a scenario if China’s Huawei is barred from supplying 5G gear in India on security grounds, people familiar with the matter said.

Any potential exclusion of Huawei is likely to open up big revenue opportunities for both European vendors which have upped their ante in lobbying to step into the Chinese 5G gear maker’s shoes, although they would have to stave off a challenge from Samsung, which will also try to fill any potential gap created if Huawei is barred. ET had reported that both Airtel and Vodafone Idea have started engaging with Samsung.

At present, Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia are the Big 3 network vendors in India, while Samsung only supplies to Reliance Jio Infocomm.