5G, as Nokia nudges in the UK with BT
After the announcement of Huawei's progressive ban in the UK, Nokia wins a contract for 5G radio equipment from the British BT
Nokia sprints in the UK 5G race. The Finnish company today announced an agreement with the UK's largest mobile operator BT for the supply of 5G radio equipment.
The deal makes the Finnish TLC equipment company BT's largest infrastructure provider.
As Reuters recalls, although Nokia has won contracts from operators around the world, it suffered a setback earlier this month.
In early September, Verizon awarded a $ 6.7 billion contract to supply new 5G equipment to Samsung Electronics in the US. According to research by JP Morgan published in July , Verizon was believed to be Nokia's largest customer.
The deal also comes a few months after Britain said it would ban Chinese Huawei technologies from next-generation 5G telecom networks.
THE DETAILS OF THE AGREEMENT
As we said, the deal will make Nokia the largest supplier of BT equipment. However, the size of the contract was not disclosed.
According to sources close to the deal, Nokia won 63% of the BT contract, or about 11,600 radio sites.
In particular, BT will use Nokia's AirScale Single Ran (S-RAN) equipment to provide internal and external coverage to its customers. Such equipment includes base stations and radio access products.
WHAT NOKIA DOES FOR BT
The Finnish company currently powers BT's grid in Greater London, the Midlands and rural areas. But the new contract will add more cities across the UK. This is a nice shot developed by the new CEO of Nokia Pekka Lundmark.
BT Group Chief Executive Philip Jansen said the deal will enable the continued roll-out of fixed and mobile networks, with digital connectivity critical to the UK's economic future.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR NOKIA AND ERICSSON IN THE UK
In the United Kingdom, the possibilities for the Finnish Nokia and the Swedish Ericsson are expanding. In July, the Johnson government announced that all UK mobile operators will be banned from purchasing new Huawei 5G equipment after December 31. Not only.
Under the current ban, UK operators will have to remove all of China's Huawei 5G kit by 2027, thus offering opportunities for Nokia and Ericsson.
IN REPLACEMENT OF HUAWEI
As the BBC points out, the deal will also see Nokia replace Huawei in BT's 2G and 4G networks. Furthermore, it is expected that BT will soon reach an agreement to buy kits from a second supplier to avoid becoming exclusively dependent on Nokia once Huawei's kit is permanently banned.
THE MARKET FOR RADIO ACCESS NETWORKS
According to data from Moody's, in 2019 Nokia held a 21% share of the global radio access networks (RAN) market, compared to 29% for Ericsson and 31% for Huawei.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/5g-come-sgomita-nokia-nel-regno-unito-con-bt/ on Tue, 29 Sep 2020 12:39:11 +0000.