Orange selects Nokia and Ericsson as equipment suppliers for the launch of 5G. Scheduled for this summer, the deployment of 5G by Orange will be done with its key and long-standing partners »Declares Fabienne Dulac, Deputy General Manager of Orange France.
The partnership with Nokia is focused on the West and Southeast regions, areas in which Nokia is already a supplier of 2G / 3G / 4G on the mobile network (RAN). As for Ericsson, the latter focuses on the Ile de France, North-East and South-West regions, details the operator in its press release.
This recourse to European equipment manufacturers comes following a call for tenders launched in early 2019, and is part of the debate on the Chinese Huawei. Accused by Donald Trump of spying on behalf of Chinese intelligence services and subject to trade sanctions, Huawei’s future in 5G was still uncertain in Europe.
However, a few days ago the United Kingdom announced that it would accept the equipment supplier on its territory, followed closely by the European Union: “ We in Europe, we accept everyone but we have rules, these rules are clear, demanding “Said Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Industry. An opinion shared by Stephane Richard, CEO of Orange, who said he was against the exclusion of Huawei.
However, Orange (like Free) have turned to Europeans because, although Europe authorizes the Chinese giant on its territory, it is not without the limitations listed in the “toolbox” of the European Commission which aims to strengthen network security in the Union and its sovereignty.
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