Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia have
emerged as the top 3 global 5G RAN vendors according to a report by Strategy
Analytics, a global technology and media analyst agency.
Huawei is ranked as the leader in
terms of equipment performance, portfolio of radio access network products,
contribution to industry standards, R&D investment, and delivery
capabilities.
According to this report titled “Comparison
and 2023 5G Global Market Potential for leading 5G RAN Vendors – Ericsson,
Huawei and Nokia”, the three global vendors are leading in commercializing
5G, and compared with other vendors, Huawei’s 5G network is faster and lower
latency.
The report quoted results of
series of tests that were concluded in January saying that in the
non-standalone (NSA) scenario, the peak downlink rate of a single user on
Huawei’s 5G network reaches 1.86 Gbit/s.
The figure is 1.38 Gbit/s for
Ericsson and 1.15 Gbit/s for Nokia.
In the air interface latency test,
the test results of Ericsson and Nokia are 3.5 ms and 3.8 ms respectively, but
Huawei’s user plane delay is only 2 ms. In the standalone (SA) scenario,
Huawei’s peak downlink rate of a single cell reaches 14.58 Gbit/s, which is
nearly three times that of Ericsson. Nokia has not completed the test until
today.
In announcing its Q1 results last
week, Huawei said that they have “signed 40 commercial contracts for 5G
with leading global carriers and had shipped more than 70,000 5G base stations
to markets around the world. The results show that the company’s Q1 sales rose
39 percent from a year earlier to $26.7 billion, and its net profit margin was
about 8 percent, slightly higher than last year.
In terms of Standards Contribution
and Patents, the report indicates all three leading vendors are active players
in 3GPP 5G standardization, According to IPlytics GmbH, Huawei is the No.1 in
terms of the number of 5G Standard Essential Patents (SEPs), the number of 5G
standards contributions and the number of employees attending 5G standard
meetings. Ericsson and Nokia are also in the leading companies in these
aspects.
The report shows companies who
actively contribute to 3GPP standards activities can often get a ‘first mover’
advantage on their product roadmap.
This conclusion has been echoed
by the three vendors’ performance in the market.
According to a research report
released by Dell’Oro
Group, a US market research company, in February, Huawei, Ericsson,
and Nokia were the top three vendors in the fourth quarter of 2018 and in the
whole year. In markets outside North America, Huawei’s revenue market share in
2018 (about 40%) was almost equal to the sum of Ericsson and Nokia. Ericsson
was the second largest vendor in 2018. The growth rate of its business in North
America and Europe was over 10%.
Last week leading Dutch telecom
provider KPN signed a preliminary agreement with Huawei to start preparations
for the construction of KPN’s new Mobile Radio Access Network in the
Netherlands, as part of KPN’s mobile network modernization for 5G. It was reported
Britain has agreed to allow Huawei limited access to “non-core” parts of the
country’s 5G infrastructure. These came when US is trying pressuring its allies
to stop using Huawei equipment.
Many countries, organizations and
global carriers have express concerns over politicalizing the cyber security
issue. In the beginning of this year Deutsche Telekom said Europe’s 5G rollout
could be delayed by at least two years if governments on the continent
implement a ban on Huawei. This was followed by warning from mobile industry
body GSMA that actions which disrupt the network equipment supply “will increase
costs to European operators, businesses and citizens; delay 5G deployment by
years across Europe; and potentially also jeopardize the functioning of
existing 4G networks upon which 5G is intended to be built”.
According to GSMA, By 2025,
mobile operators are expected to invest between €300 billion and €500 billion
on the roll out of 5G across Europe.
Strategy Analytics’ reports shows
that all three leading ICT infrastructure vendors are ranked among the world’s
top 50 companies for R&D investment according to The 2018 EU R&D
Investment Scoreboard, with Huawei ranks 5 followed by Nokia(27) and
Ericsson(45). The report says it can be seen that despite significant pressure
on all infrastructure vendors, Huawei has maintained steady growth in its
R&D investment, while Ericsson and Nokia’s R&D investment have
experienced significant recent turbulence. It cautions that large swings in
R&D spending can have serious adverse impacts on long term programs like 5G
technology research and product development.
