Zurich (AFP)
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei said Wednesday it has passed the 400,000 antennas 5G, the fifth generation of mobile telephony in the world to 56 operators who have already begun the deployment of the new mobile network.
The equipment manufacturer based in Shenzhen (south) has confirmed having signed sixty contracts, more than half of them with European operators. Of these, around 40 have already started marketing the new mobile technology.
The builder made the announcement at a meeting in Zurich, Switzerland with customers and partners.
Among its competitors, the Swede Ericsson had announced at the beginning of October to have signed for the time 47 contracts with operators for 5G equipment. The third supplier, Finland's Nokia, remains discreet after announcing 42 contracts in early June.
The Chinese automaker also expects an acceleration of volumes sold with, in particular, the massive deployment of 5G planned in China: the country provides coverage of the 50 major cities before the end of this year and coverage of 350 more cities before the end of 2020.
An effort that would represent for the country a total of 600,000 to 800,000 dedicated antennas, according to Huawei. A market it will share however with its competitors since the two European equipment manufacturers have signed contracts with operators China Mobile and China Unicom.
The group published Wednesday a turnover up 24.4% over the first nine months of the year, to 610.8 billion yuan (77.9 billion euros), and despite the efforts of the US government to try to weaken its position on the 5G.
Huawei has been blacklisted by the Donald Trump administration, who suspects the potential spying enterprise on behalf of Beijing, in a context of trade war and technological rivalry with the Asian giant.
Huawei strongly denies but, because of its blacklisting in the United States, US service and component companies are now prohibited from trading with it.
© 2019 AFP