Net4mobility, the joint venture between Tele 2 and Telenor, has chosen Chinese operator Huawei over local giant Ericsson to roll out the new ultra high-speed 4G network in Sweden.
The decision represents a massive blow to Ericsson on its home turf but ultimately it was sealed by the Chinese firm’s lower prices. Both Telenor and Tele 2 stated that they had been won over by the competitive pricing offered by Huawei.
Ericsson has publicly stated that it regretted the decision not going its way given the local organisation is the world’s largest vendor of network equipment. “We went as low as we possibly could in price during the negotiations but it wasn’t enough,” said the Nordic and Baltic regional head, Mikael Backstrom.
“It has been a long procurement process in which we discussed both technology and price before settling on Huawei,” said Niclas Palmstierna, the CEO of Tele 2 Sweden CEO reports The Local. “All actors in this process are strong on technology and have comparable offers. But we opted for Huawei because they met with all of our important parameters,” Palmstierna added.
The project will begin in 2010 with the aim of Net4mobility to have the high speed 4G mobile network accessible to 99 percent of Swedes by 2013 according to the Local.
In coming years, expectations are that billions of euros will be spent on fourth generation networks to keep up with the surging demand for mobile data, gaming and television traffic.
Elsewhere, Ericsson was somewhat boosted by the announcement that they had won the 3G network provisions for neighbour Mobile Norway.
doomed to learn chinese? by that logic we *used* to be doomed to learn Swedish because they used to be the largest provider. Neither happened but I’d rather learn Swedish if I had to.
I can see it now. Counterfeit Ericsson hardware installed in Sweden that goes really fast for 1 day past the warranty. Then we build it all over again. But cheaply. over and over again.
Careful with those trains, we might be forced to learn Canadian if Bombardier builds the actual train cars. :)
“A high-speed train runs out of the Wuhan Railway Station in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, Dec. 26, 2009. The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway boasting the world’s fastest train journey with a 350-km-per-hour average speed, is debuted on Saturday.”
http://www.chinaview.cn/photos/index.htm
So – Volvo, 4G network in Sweden, fastest train… we are doomed to learn Chinese :-)
If Ericsson didn’t waste hundreds of millions for advertising/PR/branding/marketing and other BS – it might have been able to offer right price. Maybe.
But another problems of Ericsson – they WERE largest vendor. There are more Ericsson stuff install in the world. But they are no longer number one in NEW generation equipment.
PS. That’s why I’m saying that Iceland must look at China – if we want to get out of current mess.