Huawei Scare Pushes Carriers to Tackle Dominance of 5G
Suppliers
Bloomberg Stefan Nicola, Rodrigo Orihuela and Natalia
Drozdiak,Bloomberg 14 hours ago
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(Bloomberg) -- With the U.S. campaign
against Huawei Technologies Co. threatening to disrupt the rollout of 5G
wireless networks, phone carriers are joining forces to develop technology that
can reduce their reliance on a handful of powerful equipment suppliers.
The Chinese company dominates the
European market for telecommunications gear, ahead of Ericsson AB of Sweden and
Finland’s Nokia Oyj. Governments are weighing whether to follow the U.K. and
limit Huawei’s share of 5G networks over concerns -- denied by the company --
that it represents a security risk.
If they do, it could knock the progress of 5G off course:
The big three have designed a lot of their wireless gear so it can’t easily be
integrated in the same network, much like an electric toothbrush only works
with its own brush heads. So building 5G with Nokia or Ericsson kit on top of
Huawei 4G infrastructure is fraught with complexity and costs.
Companies including Deutsche Telekom
AG and Vodafone Group Plc have decided to combine separate projects to develop
a more standardized, flexible network architecture that would make it easier
for carriers to use products from multiple vendors, according to people
familiar with the matter.
Under the plans, the O-RAN industry
alliance, backed by Deutsche Telekom and AT&T Inc. among others, will align
its work with the Telecom Infra Project, which was started by Facebook Inc. and
is supported by several phone companies, said the people, who asked not to be
named as the plans aren’t yet public.
The industry is pursuing the efforts with greater urgency
partly because they’re alarmed by the prospect of restrictions on Huawei in
more markets such as Germany, one of the people said. The U.K.’s decision to
limit Huawei’s share of broadband infrastructure already led BT Group Plc to
predict a 500 million-pound ($650 million) hit to its finances.
The carriers were planning to announce the O-RAN/TIP
initiative at the wireless industry’s biggest annual showcase in Barcelona next
week, before it was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak, the people said.
An announcement could instead come as early as this week.
O-RAN’s goal from the start has been
to “invite in more players with new ideas to help make the network stronger and
more secure,” said Deutsche Telekom spokeswoman Pia Habel. She declined further
comment.
A spokeswoman for
TIP declined to comment. A representative for O-RAN could not immediately be
reached for comment.
Negotiating Power
AT&T has said it wants to replace the proprietary
software that Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei use to run their wireless network gear
with an open software.
Vodafone has begun issuing small contracts for OpenRAN, an
initiative backed by TIP to standardize radio access network hardware and
software. CEO Nick Read said in October that Vodafone was “ready to fast track
it into Europe as we seek to actively expand our vendor ecosystem.”
O-RAN began in 2018 as a lobbying and research effort to
make the radio access network -- the largest part of a wireless system -- more
transparent and inter-operable. TIP is a broader project involving hundreds of
companies working across all elements of networks.
O-RAN and TIP may already be changing the economics of the
industry and giving newer players more room. It’s now possible to design a
“virtual” wireless network, which uses standardized, open-source software in
conjunction with hardware from different vendors.
Rakuten Inc. is using such technology to roll out a virtual
network in Japan. U.S. satellite broadcaster Dish Network Corp., a member of
the O-RAN alliance, aims to build a 5G network along similar lines.
Ericsson and Nokia, reluctant to pick a fight with their
biggest customers, have publicly welcomed O-RAN and TIP. Ericsson has joined
O-RAN, while Nokia supports TIP and has been helping Rakuten build the Japanese
network.
Nokia Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Suri said in April last
year it’s “better to be involved than not,” although he didn’t expect the model
to be replicated in other parts of the world.
Translation
（彭博）- 隨著美國推出針對華為技術有限公司的運動,
威脅要破壞5G無線網絡的推出，電話運營商正在聯合開發能夠減少對少數強大設備供應商依賴的技術。
中國公司的電信設備主導歐洲市場,
領先瑞典愛立信AB公司和芬蘭的諾基亞Oyj公司。各國政府正在權衡是否跟隨英國並限制華為在5G網絡中的份額，是因為該公司带著安全隱患的顾虑 -- 但該公司已否認了這點。
如果限制華為的話，它可能會阻礙5G的發展：三大巨頭已經設計了許多無線設備，因此它不容易集成到相同網絡中，就像電動牙刷只能使用自己的刷頭一樣。因此，以華為4G基礎架構之上使用諾基亞或愛立信套件構建5G充滿了複雜性和成本。
知情人士說，包括德國電信公司和沃達丰集團公司在內的公司已決定合併單獨的項目，以開發更加標準化及靈活的網絡體系結構，這將使運營商更容易使用多個供應商的產品。
因計劃尚未公開,
要求匿名的知情人士說，根據計劃，由德國電信和美國電話電報公司（AT＆T Inc.）等支持的O-RAN行業聯盟將使其工作與由Facebook
Inc. 發起並得到多家電話公司支持的Telecom
Infra Project保持函接。
一位知情人士說，該行業正在緊急地採取措施，部分原因是他們對華為在更多市場（例如德國）受到限制的前景感到震驚。英國決定限制華為在寬帶基礎設施中的份額, 已經導致英國電信集團（BT
Group Plc）預測其財務損失將達5億英鎊（6.5億美元）。
知情人士說，運營商計劃在下週在巴塞羅那舉行的無線行業最大的年度展示會上宣布O-RAN
/ TIP計劃，但由于冠狀病毒的爆發而取消了該計劃。相反，可能最早在本周宣布。
Deutsche Telekom的女發言人Pia
Habel說，O-RAN的目標從一開始就是“邀請更多提出新想法的參與者，以幫助使網絡更強大，更安全。”她拒絕進一步置評。
TIP發言人拒絕置評。O-RAN的代表無法立即聯繫去發表評論。
談判能力
需要確保來自競爭供應商的天線及開關和其他設備能夠無縫通信，這可能使愛立信和諾基亞在內的任何供應商更難獲得合同，因為客戶已經在使用其設備中。這可能會加強運營商在5G網絡合同中的談判地位，該合同在行業裡價值數千億美元。
美國電話電報公司（AT＆T）表示，它希望用開放軟件代替諾基亞，愛立信和華為用來運行其無線網絡設備的專有軟件。
沃達丰已開始為OpenRAN簽發小合同，這是由TIP支持的一項旨在標準化無線電接入網絡硬件和軟件的計劃。首席執行官尼克·雷德（Nick
Read）於10月表示，沃達丰“在積極尋求擴展供應商生態系統的同時，已預備快速進入歐洲”。
O-RAN於2018年開始，作為一項遊說和研究工作，旨在使無線電接入網絡（無線系統的最大組成部分）更加透明和可互操作。
TIP是一個更廣泛的項目，涉及數百家跨網絡所有元素運作的公司。
O-RAN和TIP可能已經在改變行業的盈利能力狀況，並為新玩家提供更多的空間。現在可以設計一個 “虛擬” 無線網絡，該網絡使用標準化的開源軟件以及來自不同供應商的硬件。
Rakuten Inc.正在使用這種技術在日本推出虛擬網絡。
O-RAN聯盟的成員美國衛星廣播公司Dish
Network Corp.的目標是沿著類似的路線建立5G網絡。
愛立信和諾基亞不願與最大的客戶争辩，他們公開歡迎O-RAN和TIP。愛立信加入了O-RAN，諾基亞則支持TIP，並一直在幫助樂天建立日本網絡。
諾基亞首席執行官拉傑夫·蘇里（Rajeev
Suri）於去年4月表示，“最好參與其中”，儘管他不預料這種模式能在世界其他地區複制。
Comments
It is
interesting to note that the Chinese companies are dominating the European
markets in telecommunication gears etc., and are ahead of Ericsson AB of
Sweden and Finland’s Nokia Oyj in technology. It is logical for the local European
companies to compete with Huawei and to fight for their own market share.
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