Huawei suffered setbacks, Nokia and Ericsson were overwhelmed, and Samsung was the most unexpected...

Latest update time：2021-09-09 09:43

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Currently, the world-recognized communications equipment giants are Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung. These four giants basically monopolize the global communications equipment market.

Since 2019, the United States has continued to increase its pressure on Huawei, causing Huawei's mobile phone business and 5G business to be affected to varying degrees.

In terms of 5G communication equipment, Huawei's biggest competitors Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung have naturally become the biggest beneficiaries , constantly eroding Huawei's overseas market share, especially in Europe.

Britain, France, Germany and Italy collectively changed their attitude

Huawei suffers setback in European market

As for overseas markets, Huawei has always regarded Europe as its main market. According to statistics from the UK's IHS Markit, Huawei ranked first in the global base station market share in 2018 with 30.9% . In addition to its well-received performance, Huawei's products are also cheaper than Ericsson and Nokia . Huawei's share in Europe is particularly high, exceeding 40% .

However, the Trump administration of the United States has taken unreasonable actions against Huawei to intensify its suppression of Huawei on the grounds of concerns about national security, and even forced its European allies to ban Huawei from participating in 5G construction.

Some European countries have also chosen to follow the will of the United States. Major telecommunications companies in major countries such as Britain and France have previously removed Huawei's wireless equipment. Recently, Germany and Italy, which have always supported Huawei, have also begun to change their attitude.

At the end of April, the German Bundestag’s 5G security bill, “Communications Security Act 2.0”, will restrict 5G technology from “untrusted” suppliers and require local telecom operators to notify the German government when signing 5G key components. The government also has the right to prevent the signing of contracts.

Germany's Handelsblatt pointed out that the new rules will affect Germany's policy toward China, and Chinese telecommunications equipment supplier Huawei will face serious setbacks in the German market.

Not long after, Telecom Italia also sent a letter to Huawei to cancel the letter of intent signed by the two parties. As Huawei's largest customer in the European market, Italy planned to award the contract to Huawei, Nokia and Ericsson at the end of last year, but Huawei has been excluded at present.

With the collective change of attitude of Britain, France, Germany and Italy, Huawei 5G is struggling in the European market.

Huawei suffers setback

Nokia and Ericsson are overcrowded

Huawei suffered a setback in the European market, and with the loss of a strong competitor, Nokia and Ericsson seem to have ushered in a new spring.

Before March 2020, Huawei once ranked first with 96 5G commercial contracts. However, as Europe's attitude towards Huawei changed, Ericsson and Nokia's cooperation with European countries became closer .

In early May, Swisscom rejected Huawei's 5G plan and announced that it had signed an extended 5G commercial contract with Ericsson. It is reported that the contract mainly includes the construction of the core network of 5G independent networking and wireless access network services.

The signing of a large 5G contract between Swisscom and Ericsson was actually something that was expected. After all, as early as December 2020, Swisscom refused Huawei's participation in domestic 5G projects in China on the grounds of public opinion.

Last October, Nokia officially announced that it had signed an important 5G equipment agreement with British Telecom, the largest telecommunications group in the UK. Nokia will replace Huawei in some of British Telecom's wireless networks after expanding the terms with British mobile operators. This means that Nokia is likely to become a major 5G network equipment supplier for British Telecom.

At the same time, Ericsson and Nokia's 5G equipment contracts began to grow rapidly.

Among them, Ericsson took the lead in accelerating. By October 2020, it had obtained 111 5G equipment contracts, surpassing Huawei to take the first place in the 5G equipment market. Recently, Ericsson announced that it has won 138 5G commercial contracts worldwide.

Nokia is also growing exponentially. In June 2020, Nokia only had 70 5G equipment contracts, but by October 2020, it had exceeded 100. Nokia announced in March that the number of Nokia's 5G equipment contract orders had increased to 150 , an increase of 50% at once. It can be said that it has taken the first place in the 5G equipment market, which means that it has surpassed Ericsson.

Samsung is the most unexpected winner

Huawei's 5G failure in the European market also gave Samsung an opportunity to open up the European market, which is crucial to Samsung.

Samsung had almost no foothold in the communications equipment market in the 4G era, but began to make efforts in the communications equipment market in the 5G era. During this period, Samsung mainly received 5G equipment orders in the Korean and American markets. Since these two markets were the first to commercialize 5G, Samsung's 5G base station shipments once ranked first in the world.

However, Samsung has never been as successful in the European market as it is in the Korean and American markets. As a result, as China and Europe started to build 5G networks, Samsung gradually fell behind in the 5G equipment market. By 2020, Samsung only ranked fifth in the 5G equipment market.

If Samsung wants to further expand the 5G communication equipment market, the European and Chinese markets are crucial. Huawei is definitely the first choice for the Chinese market. As Huawei has suffered setbacks in the European market due to the ban, European operators also welcome new communication equipment vendors to compete with Ericsson and Nokia, which provides Samsung with an excellent opportunity to enter the European market .

Samsung also seems to have seized this opportunity. Recently, Samsung has cooperated with Polish operator Play on 4G and 5G trials. It is reported that most of Play's current networks are provided by Huawei, and a small part is provided by Ericsson. However, Poland has issued a decree prohibiting operators from purchasing products sold by so-called "high-risk suppliers" and requiring them to remove deployed products within the next five years.

Relevant people commented that Samsung's cooperation with Play to test 5G equipment indicates that it will open up the European market . Thomas Riedel, head of Samsung's European network, also said that the trial is a "meaningful milestone" for the two companies, adding that Samsung will continue to work hard to expand its business in continental Europe and around the world.

Is Huawei really lagging behind?

The UK, France, Germany and Italy collectively changed their minds and banned or removed Huawei's 5G equipment, which also made many people wonder whether Huawei's 5G is really falling behind?

In fact, this is not the case. Although the UK, France, Germany and Italy have collectively changed their attitudes, there are still other countries that support Huawei 5G. For example, Russia, Malaysia and other countries still support Huawei 5G. Huawei's current situation is not as bad as imagined .

From the data point of view, in the third quarter of last year, Huawei still occupied 32.8% of the 5G communication equipment market, a slight increase from 2018, and its first position has not been shaken. At the same time, Huawei is developing other businesses to empower multiple traditional industries through 5G.

Among them, Huawei's empowerment of car manufacturing has been the hottest . Huawei has made it clear that Huawei does not build cars itself, but Huawei also wants to cooperate with car companies to create some good business models. It will choose to partner for in-depth cooperation and empower car companies through Huawei inside to truly face our cars to the future. Smart cars marked with the "Huawei inside" logo will be launched one after another.

In addition to car manufacturing, Huawei also empowers other industries. In February this year, Huawei Machine Vision President Duan Aiguo said in an interview that Huawei does not raise pigs, but empowers companies to raise good pigs. On May 4 , Hong Kong cosmetics retailer Bonjour Holdings issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its wholly-owned subsidiary Bonjour Technology Services Co., Ltd. and Hong Kong Huawei International Co., Ltd. entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding.

It is understood that Huawei will build smart retail stores and provide technical support for Joyoung through solutions such as big data analysis, electronic payment, and WiFi 6 .

Huawei's car manufacturing, pig farming, and beauty products have gained a lot of attention. A closer look shows that Huawei is not building cars or raising pigs itself, but using its advanced ICT technology to provide information solutions for enterprises to improve production efficiency.

The powerful Huawei is fighting back using its strengths.

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This article is reprinted from 5G Communications, written by Ali.