Ericsson Ousts Huawei as TDC’s 5G Vendor in Denmark

Danish telecom provider TDC has sidestepped China-based vendor Huawei in favor of Sweden-based Ericsson to build the company’s 5G network. TDC has had a long-standing relationship with Huawei, which has increasingly come under a microscope due to security concerns. The new agreement will see Ericsson supply equipment and services for the network that is scheduled to be available across Denmark by the end of 2020. The TDC deal also restores a customer that Ericsson lost to Huawei in 2014. At the time, TDC signed a six-year LTE deal with Huawei in a move that was widely regarded as a big domestic loss for the Swedish vendor. For Ericsson, the contract win boosts its 5G presence in the Nordic region. The vendor has already been selected by Telenor Group to implement cloud core solutions to support 5G in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. And it’s teaming up with Telia and Volvo in Sweden on the operation of a 5G network for industrial use. Ericsson has now announced 15 5G deals with operators and 43 5G operator agreements. This latest contract with TDC could be a further sign that Ericsson and fellow Nordic-based vendor Nokia are starting to benefit from Huawei’s woes. Highlighting that notion is that Ericsson will also take on responsibility for maintaining and expanding TDC’s LTE network, even though the contract with Huawei was originally due to run until 2020.