Another major Telecom Operator in Europe decided to replace some of huawei equipment, which would be a lose-lose situation

Operator Finance Kang Zhao/Wen

On December 27, according to Reuters, telefónica insiders of Telefónica, Spain's largest telecommunications operator, revealed that Telefónica has purchased 5G network equipment from Ericsson to replace some of its Huawei equipment deployed in Spain. This is undoubtedly not a good thing for Huawei.

Founded in 1924 and known in English as Telefónica, Telefónica is a large multinational telecommunications company in Spain that operates mainly in Spain and Latin America. It is one of the world's largest fixed-line and mobile telecommunications companies, ranking fourth in the number of subscribers and sixth in the world in terms of total market value.

Telefónica is important to Huawei, which occupies a very large market. Telefónica has always relied heavily on Huawei, using Huawei's kits in Spain's own 3G to 4G cores. As of the end of 2019, Telefónica's core 4G networks in key markets such as Spain and Germany are still completely dependent on Huawei equipment.

In December 2019, Blanco, Telefónica's chief technology and information officer, revealed that the company plans to "significantly reduce" the number of purchases of Huawei equipment in its next-generation mobile communication network in Europe. In addition, on June 14, 2021, Telefónica signed a 5G contract with Nokia and Ericsson, but so far it has not been announced that Telefónica and Huawei will sign a 5G contract.

If Telefónica has decided to purchase Ericsson equipment to replace some of huawei equipment, it means that Huawei has clearly lost a lot of market.

Telefónica used to rely heavily on Huawei's equipment, but according to the company's new strategy, this situation will disappear by 2024.

(Editor-in-Charge: Han Li)