Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks can breathe a sigh of relief: They didn't lose another Nordic LTE deal to their Chinese rival Huawei.
TeliaSonera selected Ericsson and Nokia Siemens as the primary vendors for its LTE networks in Norway and Sweden. Ericsson will provide the common core network and Ericsson and Nokia Siemens will jointly deliver the radio access network for the network rollout this year and in 2011. The wins come on the heels of a pair of high-profile LTE victories for Huawei in Scandinavia.
The win is particularly good news for Nokia Siemens, which has seen its market share erode over the past year; Huawei nudged past NSN as the world's second-largest equipment vendor in the third quarter, according to market research firm Dell'Oro.
Last month TeliaSonera became the first operator to commercially launch an LTE network, with Ericsson providing the network equipment for its Stockholm market, and Huawei providing the equipment for the Oslo market. The carrier said Huawei continues to finalize the Oslo market. "Huawei probably sold the first part at an unrealistically low price," said John Strand, chief executive of telecoms consultancy Strand Consult, told Reuters, in explaining Huawei's apparent loss of TeliaSonera's business.
Huawei has been proving that it can compete with Western vendors on technology as well as price. In November, Norway's Telenor gave Huawei an LTE contract valued at $175.4 million over over the next six years. Additionally, in December Huawei was awarded an LTE contract from Tele2 and Telenor for their joint 4G network, Net4Mobility, in Sweden, shutting out industry leader Ericsson in its home market.
For more:
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)
- see this Reuters article
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