Nokia and Ericsson risk exclusion from China

Nokia’s Mobile Networks president Tommi Uitto has warned that both Nokia and Ericsson could soon be completely excluded from the Chinese market on national security grounds. Nokia’s share in China has already dwindled to just 3%, and Uitto admitted a full ban now looks inevitable.

He urged the European Union to retaliate symmetrically, pointing out that while many EU countries have banned so-called high-risk vendors, others still allow them in critical infrastructure. Uitto argued this imbalance should be corrected to give European vendors a fair chance.

Nokia CEO Justin Hotard echoed the concerns, stressing that Europe must protect its networks from high-risk suppliers that don’t allow western vendors into their own markets. He also called on the European Commission to loosen competition rules to better support innovation and large-scale 5G deployments across smaller EU states.

The remarks were made during the opening of Nokia’s new R&D and production facility in Oulu, Finland, attended by Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

 

To me, it looks like Nokia is right to demand fairness, but the timing makes it look like a sore loser. When Huawei was losing jobs in Europe, Nokia kept quiet. Now that the tables have turned, it suddenly found its voice.

 

Thanks to KaizerAllen for the tip!

 

Source Mobile World Live