Ericsson reaffirmed its commitment to the Chinese market

The executives of Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson said they welcome market-based competition from rivals including Huawei Technologies Co, which is resisting regulators’ decisions to excludes Shenzhen-based company’s equipment from Sweden’s 5G network.

Ericsson headquarters in Sweden. Photo: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson Chris Houghton, senior vice president of Ericsson and for markets in Northeast Asia, told reporters through a video call at an event in Beijing on April 22: “Confrontation and increasing polarization Increasing will not make the world any safer. ” Global efforts to improve telecommunications technology have been supported by hundreds of companies over the years, adding that the role of “Chinese innovators cannot be ignored,” said Houghton. “. “Anything that restricts competition runs the risk of slowing down the industry,” he said. Market performance should be determined by the technical practices of the competitiveness of the different solutions. ” Ericsson has been campaigning for months against the Swedish government’s ban on Huawei. Earlier this week, in an interview with Chinese media outlet Caixin at the Boao Forum for Asia, President and CEO Ericsson Börje Ekholm said “geopolitics could endanger” cooperation. of the company with its Chinese counterparts, such as Huawei and ZTE, in setting unified global standards in the telecom industry. Ericsson is also concerned about the impact of the Sweden ban on Huawei equipment on its business in China. The company said in its 2020 financial report that Sweden’s sanctions against Huawei risk having an impact on its operations in the world’s second-largest economy. Last year, China was Ericsson’s second largest market after the US, contributing 8% of the company’s revenue – up from 7% in 2019. The company provides equipment and terminal services to national carriers. China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, respectively, serve more than 350 million 5G mobile subscribers in China. According to data from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China placed 5G at the top of its agenda to boost the digital economy, which houses 792,000 5G base stations by the end of February, making them the largest 5G network in the world. On April 22, Ericsson Vice President Sinisa Krajnovic, head of the company’s digital services division in Northeast Asia, said that there is still uncertainty about whether the company can fall victim to the stress. geopolitics or not. “When it comes to China, there are things we can control and things we cannot control,” said Mr. Krajnovic. He pointed out that countries like China, which invest early in 5G technology, are more likely to capture “competitive advantage” than latecomers. The administrative court in Stockholm on April 21 began hearing Huawei’s argument as to whether the Swedish authorities’ restrictions were legal. The Swedish Post and Telecommunication Authority decided in October last year to ban the world’s largest telecom equipment maker from supplying the country’s mobile network operators during its 5G rollout. them, on the grounds of security risk. The regulator also issued a similar ban on ZTE.