While one would expect the CEO of Huawei’s biggest competitor to be elated that the country has banned Huawei’s 5G equipment from its network, such is not the case. The CEO of Ericsson (ERIC), Huawei’s closest competitor, has supported Huawei publicly a number of times and the most recent comment in a text to the Swedish Minister of Commerce, he stated that “If the Huawei ban continues to exist, Ericsson will leave Sweden”. Back in October of last year the Swedish Postal & Telecommunication Administration banned companies participating in 5G spectrum auctions from using Huawei equipment (and ZTE (000063.CH)) on ‘security grounds’, which Huawei appealed, but was rejected by the Court of Appeals, which triggered a resumption in spectrum auctions later this month.
Ericsson’s concern over the ban of its competitor stems not from the Swedish 5G market, but from its share of the Chinese 5G market, where Ericsson holds a 10% share of the world’s largest 5G market, which holds a particular sensitivity to those countries that punish their local brethren. Comments by various officials in China, particularly Ericsson subcontractors seem to support the idea that the decision by the Swedish government was not a good one and did not support competition. According to the Swedish government, the ban cannot be lifted because the decision was made by ‘the temporary secretariat of the Swedish Post & Telecommunication Administration, based on the recommendation of the security department and the Armed Forces”, whatever that means.
Ericsson’s concern over the ban of its competitor stems not from the Swedish 5G market, but from its share of the Chinese 5G market, where Ericsson holds a 10% share of the world’s largest 5G market, which holds a particular sensitivity to those countries that punish their local brethren. Comments by various officials in China, particularly Ericsson subcontractors seem to support the idea that the decision by the Swedish government was not a good one and did not support competition. According to the Swedish government, the ban cannot be lifted because the decision was made by ‘the temporary secretariat of the Swedish Post & Telecommunication Administration, based on the recommendation of the security department and the Armed Forces”, whatever that means.
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