Samsung likely to expand 5G presence in Europe to fill Huawei gap

Apr 21, 2021, 08:48 am

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Source: Samsung Electronics Newsroom

AsiaToday reporter Park Ji-eun

Samsung Electronics’ 5G network equipment market share is expected to expand in the European market as Germany, the gateway to the European technology market, plans to limit Chinese tech giant Huawei’s 5G network equipment. Attention is focused on whether Samsung Electronics will expand its presence in the European 5G network equipment market.

According to the Brussels branch of the Korea International Trade Association on Tuesday, Germany’s two major parties – Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) – recently agreed to expand restrictions on the use of communications equipment produced by untrusted suppliers, such as Huawei.

The communications equipment to be installed in Germany will be evaluated for compliance with the national security standard as well as security policy objectives of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for up to four months. The final approval of use will be determined only after being approved by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The government has also imposed the obligation on 5G network operators to sign declarations of reliability. This indicates that Germany also joined other European powers to block Huawei, which has been subject to technology and trade sanctions from the United States.

Observers say that such domino for Huawei could lead to an increase in the market share of telecom equipment makers excluding Huawei. According to market research firm Dell’Oro Group, Samsung Electronics’ market share of telecom equipment could grow to the 20% range this year. The telecom equipment market is led by Huawei with 31.7% market share, followed by Ericsson (29.2%), Nokia (18.7%), ZTE (11%), and Samsung Electronics (7.2%). If Washington’s pressure on Huawei continues throughout the year, other suppliers including Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung Electronics would share Huawei’s 31% share.

The presence of Samsung Electronics’ 5G network business is growing. Recently, the South Korean tech giant signed a 5G equipment supply deal with Canadian and Japanese mobile carriers. It is important note that Samsung Electronics’ long-time partner Reliance Jio recently acquired more than half of 488MHz last March. “Samsung Electronics is highly likely to win orders of about 2.5 trillion won, which accounts to 50% of new spectrum investment volume of Reliance Jio in India,” said Kim Hong-sik, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment.

#Samsung Electronics #telecommunication equipment #Huawei #Germany #US pressure