Huawei claims that despite a ban on the company in various regions, it has shipped 200,000 5G-enabled base stations globally.
The base stations are radio gear mounted on cellular antennas.
It’s hard to measure whether Huawei is leading the pack in terms of selling 5G equipment, mainly because most of its competitors have not released out exact numbers.
According to Android Authority, SoftBank’s 5G rollout in Japan totals 11,210 base stations, and in April Samsung indicated that it is supplying 53,000 base stations to South Korea’s three leading operators.
Further, telecom provider Shanxi is supplying 30,000 base stations by 2022 within North China’s province of Shanxi. The article added that Germany’s Deutsche Telekom intends to use 129 base stations this year to cover five major cities.
So to say that Huawei has shipped 200,000 is telling, especially because 5G isn’t globally available yet.
The numbers seem to be pretty high as well, considering the challenges the company is experiencing in the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump banned Huawei from working with any U.S.-based companies in May and in June his administration slightly lifted the ban. A new deadline has been set for November for companies to figure out alternative plans if they currently are invested in working with the China-based company.
In Canada, while 5G might not be coming until at least 2021, the government still has not made a decision regarding whether or not it plans to ban Huawei from participating in the rollout of 5G infrastructure. Incumbent Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale indicated that a decision would only come after the federal election that is currently underway.
What we do know of Huawei’s competitors is that in July, Nokia said it has 45 commercial contracts for 5G equipment and that Ericsson has 24 contracts with operators that are primarily based in Europe and the U.S.
In the report, the company said it has received 50 commercial contracts for 5G base stations to date.
Huawei’s founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei recently told The Economist that his company would share his company’s 5G IP, code and technical blueprints with potential buyers. He added that his company would also be open to allowing buyers to modify the source code that runs on products in order to address any security concerns.
Source: EETAsia, Android Authority, The Economist
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