Issue:
Democracy stirs in the Middle East
Fly Title:
Telecoms equipment
Rubric:
How much of a threat are China's big suppliers?
Location:
ReutersHooray for Huawei
THE aggressive push into international markets by Huawei, China's leading telecoms-equipment manufacturer, appears to be bearing fruit. In December, Huawei won an estimated $100m contract to build a third-generation (3G) wireless network for Telfort, a Dutch operator that has always used gear from Ericsson, the world's largest telecoms-equipment firm. In January, Huawei won a $187m order for another 3G network, in Thailand, beating Ericsson and Motorola with a bid 46% below the operator's original estimate.
Last week came evidence that Huawei can compete on more than just price. A report based on a survey of over 100 telecoms operators worldwide, carried out by Heavy Reading, a market-research firm, found that Huawei ranked eighth among wireline-equipment suppliers, up from 18th last year. (Cisco came top.) Most strikingly, Huawei ranked fourth in service and support. The report calls Huawei's ascendancy “astounding” and says ...
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