Huawei secures most 5G contracts from China Mobile

Chinese technology giant Huawei won the most number of 5G network equipment contracts in a recent procurement from the telecom operator China Mobile, The Beijing News reported.

The centralized purchase, including MME telecom equipment and SAE-GW telecom equipment, awarded contracts to 5G equipment makers at home and abroad.

Huawei provided 219 units of MME telecom equipment, accounting for about 49 percent of the total procurements, while the European telecom equipment makers Ericsson, Nokia and China's ZTE offered 153 units, 56 units and 22 units, respectively.

China Mobile also procured 369 units of SAE-GW telecom equipment from Huawei, which accounted for some 54 percent of the company's purchase. Ericsson, Nokia and ZTE supplied 231 units, 60 units and 21 units, respectively.

On June 6, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially rolled out commercial 5G licenses. The country's three major telecom carriers — China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, as well as the State-owned China Broadcasting Network Corp obtained the licenses.

China Mobile aimed to offer 5G commercial services in over 40 cities by this September, according to the report.

Dong Xin, China Mobile's vice-president and chief financial officer, said at a conference in March that the company initially plans to build 30,000 to 50,000 5G base stations. Its investment this year, including the 5G pre-commercial use, will not be higher than 167.1 billion yuan from the year of 2018.