HIGHLIGHTS
- India's telecom carriers have been lowering their reliance on Huawei.
- Huawei is a telecom equipment supplier to both Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel.
- Huawei controls 29% of the worldwide telecom equipment market.
According to three individuals familiar with the situation, Nokia is in discussions to replace Huawei 4G radio equipment from portions of Vodafone Idea's telecom network in India, in one of the biggest swap transactions for the Finnish business.
According to the sources, Nokia would deploy 12,000 5G-ready radio sites and 4,000 small cells on Vodafone Idea's network in India's capital Delhi.
Telecom operators in India have been lowering their reliance on Huawei because of security concerns, and Vodafone Idea's action is a blow to Huawei's chances in the nation, according to telecom analysts, who added that additional operators may opt to replace the Chinese company as a supplier.
Huawei stated that it does not comment on particular projects. Nokia declined to comment, while Vodafone Idea did not reply to inquiries.
Several nations, notably the United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, have prohibited operators from using Huawei equipment due to security concerns. Huawei disputes that it poses a security concern.
"Unfortunately, due to security concerns and political pressure, there is no alternative but to exit Huawei," said Vivekanand Subbaraman, a telecom analyst at India's Ambit Capital. "Those are not worries that can be wished away."
Vodafone Idea agreed in January to convert government airwaves dues into equity, giving the Indian government a 35.8 percent interest in the firm. Vodafone Group owns 28.5 percent of the company, while Aditya Birla Group owns 17.8 percent.
Though India has not blacklisted Huawei, it has not included Chinese businesses, including Huawei, on its list of permitted vendors for 5G testing. Later this year, India is set to auction 5G spectrum.
In a swap arrangement, an operator replaces an existing vendor, and Nokia previously replaced Huawei gear in operators such as BT, Orange Belgium, and Proximus in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Luxembourg, respectively.
Huawei provides telecom equipment to both Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, with the latter being one of the company's top customers in India. Ericsson is also a provider to Bharti Airtel. "(The) India market is quite complicated, with numerous hurdles, and we are actively following developments in this area," Huawei stated. According to research company Dell'Oro, Huawei has a 29 percent share of the worldwide telecom equipment market, followed by Nokia and Ericsson at 15 percent apiece. According to reports, Nokia's equipment would enable Vodafone Idea to operate 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks from a single platform, and deployment may begin as soon as next month.
