- Nokia CEO called on European officials to remove Huawei and ZTE from European networks
- The vendors are already barred from the UK, Germany and nine other EU countries
- Analyst Daryl Schoolar noted that the CEO is trying to get any advantage he can for Nokia
Nokia CEO Justin Hotard called on European officials to examine removing “high-risk vendors” — specifically Huawei and ZTE — from European networks.
Speaking at a press conference before the opening of Nokia's new research campus in Oulu, Finland, last week, Hotard said that Nokia’s share in the Chinese market had fallen dramatically — and questioned why their vendors were free to operate in parts of Europe, “particularly when they do not allow us to play in their markets,” as SDxCentral reported.
“Hotard wants European operators to provide European vendors with the same level of favoritism that he sees Chinese vendors receiving in their domestic market,” Recon Analytics analyst Daryl Schoolar said to Fierce in an email. “Neither Nokia or Ericsson are fully barred from China, but both vendors’ market share there has been shrinking.”
Fierce reached out to Nokia for comments but had not received a reply by press time.
Nokia's declining market share
Hotard said during the press conference Nokia’s market share in China is now around 3%.
Huawei has already been banned or restricted from supplying 5G equipment to 10 European Union (EU) countries, as well as the U.K. Most recently, both Huawei and ZTE components were barred from 5G networks in Germany.
Several U.S. administrations have exerted considerable pressure on European nations to exclude Chinese firms. This follows the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) supporting a multi-billion-dollar program to eliminate equipment from China-based vendors from U.S. telecom networks.
Rip and replace
“Despite the efforts of several U.S. administrations, Huawei and ZTE are still active in the European telecoms market,” said Schoolar. “Just recently there have been several reports regarding Huawei working in Spain with both Telefonica and that country’s federal government."
Schoolar noted that Spain is not alone when it comes to European countries still working with Chinese vendors. “I see Hotard’s comments last week as a call for a European version of ‘rip and replace’,” he said.
“Given the mobile infrastructure’s market performance of the last several years and the tepid outlook for future 6G spending, it is not surprising that Hotard is looking for any advantage he can get for Nokia, even if that means leveraging regional pride,” the analyst concluded.