Nokia has won its first 5G radio contract in China, securing a share in one of China Mobile’s three new 5G contracts, Reuters reported.
Ericsson lost market share after getting caught up in a political spat. The Sweden-based Ericsson earlier indicated that it will not be counting on 5G network contracts in China due to political issues.
Ericsson confirmed that it has been awarded 2 percent market share following a review of bids in the CP for 700MHz radio round of China’s 5G network development.
This is materially lower than the market share previously awarded to the company in the 2.6GHz CP2 (11 percent).
China Mobile is the first operator to award under the latest round of CP’s for 5G radio. Given the context and based on the bidding rules, Ericsson’s share in network contracts from China Unicom and China Telecom would be in a similar range as with the China Mobile award.
Ericsson said the risk of lower market share award follows the decision by the Post and Telecommunication Authority (PTS) to exclude Chinese vendors’ products from the 5G auction in Sweden.