Swedish telecoms equipment giant Ericsson denied that it is withdrawing from the China market, even as local rivals including Huawei Technologies pose growing challenges in the country’s 5G equipment industry.
Ericsson said it “remains committed to its customers in mainland China”, after local media reported that the company is exiting the country, where it has been losing ground to domestic giants.
In a large bidding round last June, Huawei secured 52 per cent of the 5G contracts of China Mobile, the country’s top telecoms firm, involving more than 45,000 5G base stations and about 4.1 billion yuan (US$574 million) in sales.
Huawei’s domestic competitor ZTE came in second, winning about 26 per cent of the contracts. Ericsson, in third place, shared the remaining 22 per cent of contracts with China’s Datang and Finland’s Nokia.
