Huawei has emerged as one of the key growth leaders in the global Radio Access Network (RAN) market, according to Dell’Oro Group’s 2Q 2025 report.
After two years of steep declines, RAN revenues — including baseband, radio hardware, and software (excluding services) — advanced for a third consecutive quarter outside of China, signaling an industry-wide stabilization trend.
Dell’Oro Group confirmed that Huawei, along with Ericsson, continues to dominate the RAN market. Together, the two vendors accounted for more than 60 percent of the first-half 2025 market share in China and North America, respectively. Huawei remains the global leader in RAN, securing its position among the top five suppliers, alongside Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung.
How Huawei Achieved Growth in the RAN Market
Telefonica renewed a major contract with Huawei for managing its 5G core for residential customers until 2030, albeit offset by separate core contracts awarded to Nokia for enterprise and government services.
Huawei’s ability to sustain growth during a period of industry volatility can be attributed to several key factors:
Strong Presence in China: Huawei maintains a commanding position in its home market, which remains one of the largest and most competitive globally. Despite external pressures and restrictions, its domestic strength provides stability and scale.
Expanding Global Footprint: Growth in regions such as Europe, the Middle East, and Africa helped Huawei offset weaker performance in Asia Pacific, the Caribbean, and Latin America. These markets have been central to Huawei’s strategy of diversifying its global presence.
Technological Advancements in 5G: Huawei has continued to invest heavily in 5G RAN innovation, leveraging advanced radio hardware, AI-driven network optimization, and energy-efficient base stations. These capabilities strengthen its competitive edge in delivering cost-effective and high-performance solutions.
Resilient Business Strategy: Despite global challenges, including regulatory restrictions in certain markets, Huawei has adapted by strengthening local partnerships, investing in regional ecosystems, and optimizing supply chain resilience.
Dell’Oro Group notes that the RAN market has not yet fully rebounded. While revenues are stabilizing, market sentiment remains cautious, with analysts suggesting that the industry’s long-term trajectory will remain flat.
The top five suppliers — Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung — continue to dominate, but vendor dynamics are shifting. According to the report, “the strong are getting stronger,” suggesting that companies like Huawei are consolidating their positions while laggards struggle to catch up.
Huawei’s sustained investment in RAN technologies and its ability to balance regional market challenges with growth opportunities have positioned it well to navigate industry stabilization. As global demand for 5G and next-generation connectivity evolves, Huawei’s strategy of scale, innovation, and resilience is likely to keep it at the forefront of the RAN market.
Recent vendor actitivities in RAN business
According to the recent Omdia report, Ericsson is the top RAN vendor in both business performance and portfolio strength in 2025, thanks in part to its energy-efficient products, comprehensive support across radio technologies, and Open RAN–ready offerings.
Ericsson also continues expanding its enterprise solutions, with integrated strategies that include private 5G, Cradlepoint, and cloud-native cores. In India, Ericsson signed a multi-billion-dollar 4G/5G equipment deal with Bharti Airtel to enhance network coverage using Open RAN-ready solutions.
Nokia is actively replacing Huawei in key European deployments—securing a major Open RAN contract to supply Deutsche Telekom across 3,000 German sites. In the U.S., Nokia signed a multi-year deal with AT&T to provide cloud-based voice core and 5G network automation solutions powered by AI/ML.
Samsung is stepping up in the Open RAN ecosystem — as illustrated by a successful joint demonstration between Samsung, Vodafone, and AMD showcasing a full Open RAN voice call using AMD processors and Samsung’s O-RAN vRAN software.
Despite its RAN equipment revenues falling 25 percent in 2024, Samsung remains well positioned in Europe and Africa, particularly in Vodafone tenders for replacing Huawei, which may drive recovery through expanded vRAN/Open RAN adoption.
In summary, the global RAN market is stabilizing after a steep downturn in 2024. Huawei holds steady in core markets like China and parts of Europe, while Ericsson leads globally on portfolio strength and new deals — particularly Open RAN and enterprise solutions.
Nokia is gaining ground in Europe and the U.S. through modernization and automation contracts. Samsung is leveraging Open RAN partnerships for a comeback, and overall vendor competition is shaped by technology shifts toward cloud-native, AI-enabled, and multi-vendor architectures.
Baburajan Kizhakedath