Singapore chooses Nokia, Ericsson over Huawei to build core 5G networks
Singapore is expected to begin rolling out its 5G services early next year.
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Singapore’s leading telecommunications providers selected European telecommunications companies Ericsson and Nokia over Huawei to develop the city-state’s 5G main network, and joined a growing list of countries that limit the Chinese company’s role in building the next-generation wireless network to have.
Singapore Telecommunications, the country’s largest telecommunications company, chose to use Ericsson equipment from Sweden following a “strict tender” process, while the StarHub-M1 joint venture selected Nokia, Finland, after Singapore’s telecommunications final green light for the city-state had given 5G rollout. Meanwhile, Huawei will work with the Australian TPG Telecom, which is to build a smaller network in Singapore.
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.
However, Singapore’s Minister of Communications and Information, S. Iswaran, said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday that telecommunications in Singapore “does not exclude a provider”. “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. Telecommunications received 5G licenses in April, but had yet to complete the necessary regulatory processes, including choosing its preferred frequency spectrum lots, provider partners and other technical and legal issues, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) said on Wednesday.
The US has long claimed that Huawei is a close relationship with the Chinese government and that the company’s equipment 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 citiesas well as parts of China, South Korea and Great Britain among others. The new technology is said to make downloads and uploads ultra-fast, but is also ready to support everything from self-driving cars to advanced augmented reality experiences.
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