Telecom Italia excludes Huawei from 5G core equipment tender: Report

Telecom Italia (TIM) excluded China’s Huawei Technologies from a tender it launched this month for 5G equipment for the core network it is preparing to build in Italy and Brazil, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The list of invited suppliers comprises Cisco , Ericsson , Nokia , Mavenir and Affirmed Networks, a company recently acquired by Microsoft , one of the two sources said.

A Telecom Italia source described the omission of Huawei from the current tender as “part of our suppliers’ diversification policy”.

Representatives for Huawei in Italy and Brazil declined to comment.

The decision to prevent Huawei from bidding for the Italian network gives the Chinese company no recourse. But Huawei or other suppliers could be invited to rejoin the process in Brazil at a later date, a source at the company’s Brazilian unit said.