Vodafone Australia Blames 5G Delays on Huawei Ban

Australia’s third-largest mobile network operator signed a five-year contract with Nokia for the procurement and delivery of 5G equipment. Vodafone Hutchison Australia said it plans to begin deploying 5G services in the first half of 2020. Australia’s third-largest mobile network operator signed a five-year contract with Nokia for the procurement and delivery of 5G equipment. Vodafone Hutchison Australia said it plans to begin deploying 5G services in the first half of 2020. The operator joins market leader Telstra, which began deploying limited 5G service in May 2019, and Optus, which claims to have about 300 5G sites live across the country. It also marks a slow rolling and deliberate end for Vodafone Hutchison Australia’s business with Huawei, which was effectively banned from the country after government officials uncovered serious vulnerabilities in the China-based vendor’s equipment. Vodafone Hutchison Australia’s 5G network will not include any Huawei equipment and as the operator switches from Huawei to Nokia equipment the radio access networks (RAN) will remain separate and standalone, CEO Iñaki Berroeta told the Sydney Morning Herald. He also lamented the government’s decision to ban Huawei and blamed that dynamic for the operator’s delayed 5G deployments. “At one point we were ahead on 5G rollout and the decision led by the government to ban Huawei has definitely set us back 12 months. We have to catch up,” Berroeta said. Nokia may have been the operator’s second choice for 5G, but its partnership with Nokia isn’t entirely new. “We have worked with Nokia for several years across different elements of our network,” Berroeta said in a prepared statement. “[Nokia] presented a compelling roadmap that aligned with our 5G objectives and will help us to continue improving our 4G network for our customers.” Nokia has also tested and activated a group of 5G sites in and around Paramatta, which will serve as the operator’s first 5G market in the “coming months.” Federico Guillén, president of customer operators at Nokia, said in a statement that the vendor has been working on 5G efforts with Vodafone since 2016, with network trials now becoming genuine deployments. “Nokia’s end-to-end portfolio has a key role to play here, with this deal including 5G RAN, IP/optical, microwave, deployment, and managed services, as well as software,” he explained. The deal with Nokia also appears to include the potential use of dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) because the operator mentions activating 5G on all of its spectrum bands currently allocated for 4G LTE service. Nokia is behind in the development of DSS but the Finnish vendor has recently made some strides to catch up with its competitors. The agreement marks a win for Nokia in Australia, but it’s unclear how much business the vendor will earn for 5G networks in the country on the whole with Ericsson gaining momentum. Optus has been working with Ericsson on some recent 5G trials in mid-band spectrum and Telstra also named Ericsson as a “key 5G partner” in late 2018.