Singapore is expected to begin rolling out its 5G services early next year.
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Singapore’s leading telecommunications providers, Ericcson and Nokia, have been reportedly selected from Europe over Huawei to develop the city-state’s 5G main network, and have joined a growing list of countries that limit the role of Chinese telecommunications in building the next-generation wireless network to have.
Singapore Telecommunications, the country’s largest telecommunications company, chose Ericcson devices from Sweden, while the StarHub-M1 joint venture chose Finnish Nokia after Singapore gave telecommunications the go-ahead for the city state’s 5G rollout. According to a Bloomberg report, Huawei continues to act as the provider for TPG Telecom’s smaller network system.
The announcement comes after several countries, including the UK and Canada, have reduced or eliminated Huawei’s role in developing 5G networks under US pressure to shut down Chinese telecommunications for national security reasons.
Singapore’s Minister of Communications and Information, S. Iswaran, said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday that “no provider was excluded.” “They have a variety of vendors who are involved in various aspects of the global 5G system.”
Huawei declined to comment on this.
Singapore left it up to telecommunications providers to choose their network providers if they met certain criteria, including security and performance. The telecommunications companies received 5G licenses in April, but still had to complete the necessary regulatory processes, including choosing their preferred frequency spectrum lots, provider partners and other technical and legal issues, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) said on Wednesday.
The United States has long claimed that Huawei has a close relationship with the Chinese government and that the company’s devices could be used to spy on other countries and companies. Huawei has repeatedly denied this.
Singapore is expected to launch its 5G service early next year. The entire city-state is to be covered by 2025. 5G is the next generation of wireless networks to be launched worldwide. It lives in a number of major US cities as well as in parts of China, South Korea and the UK. The new technology, with which downloads and uploads can be carried out extremely quickly, also offers everything from self-driving cars to advanced augmented reality experiences.
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