News analysis
Wireless, see the Huawei-ZTE
controversy as an opportunity for MNOs
to move away from being locked into
proprietary 5G software stacks from
the major vendors in order to instead
pick and choose elements of the stack
from OpenRAN vendors, thereby taking
advantage of wider competition and a
more secure and flexible technology
supply chain.
In the USA, a group of senators led
by Democrat Mark Warner mooted
the idea in January that the US should
invest upwards of $1bn in supporting
US companies working on open radio
access network technologies to avoid
proprietary 5G stack vendor lock-in. But
attorney general William Barr dismissed
the idea, saying it was untested, would
take years to come to fruition, and
what is needed are solutions that can
be deployed now. Barr might have a
point, but Vodafone, following OpenRAN
trials in November 2019 in Turkey and
South Africa, said it would now consider
OpenRAN vendors for its future network
deployments. However, Barr’s view
chimed with Ericsson when it was asked
about OpenRAN at the media and
analyst briefing.
Ericsson is a member of the
OpenRAN initiative, but it said: “There
is a cost performance deficit for the
OpenRAN interface at the moment.” In
short, the performance does not stack
up when deployed in conjunction with
Ericsson technology – at least for now.
“But if it improves we would not leave a
gap in our stack if that future comes.”
These arguments will no doubt
continue to be rehearsed over the
coming months and years. In the
meantime, 2020 looks like being a bumpy
year of mixed fortunes for Huawei and
ZTE on the 5G front.
In February, Huawei received an
apparent boost from the French
finance minister Bruno Le Maire when
he told local station BFM TV that the
French government would not
exclude the Chinese company from
supplying 5G equipment for local 5G
networks. However, he did add a couple
of qualifications.
First, Huawei equipment will not be
allowed near sensitive sites. In fact, as
analyst John Strand of Strand Consult
pointed out in a note on 28 January,
use of Huawei kit is already restricted
around Toulouse, home of Airbus and
the European aerospace industry, and
around the Brest nuclear submarine
base. Second, Le Maire said France
may prioritise fellow European vendors
Ericsson and Nokia, but if Huawei can
oer better technology or price, it will
be considered.
Huawei did get a lift in February
when Canadian carrier Telus said it plans
to launch a 5G network later this year
using Huawei technology. However,
the Canadian government has yet to
make a ruling on the use of Chinese 5G
equipment, and Telus has said it will work
with the government on the matter.
Deployment of Huawei gear in Canada
will certainly not go down well with its
neighbour over the border.
Meanwhile, the US government is
showing no let-up in its anti-Huawei
campaign. On 14 February, the
Department of Justice filed charges
against Huawei in a federal court in New
York, including 16 counts of violating
the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act, as well as conspiracy
to steal trade secrets.
Clearly, the conundrum of what to do
about Huawei has some way to run yet in
theWest.
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