‘Introduction of 5g EU costs 55 billion euros more if Chinese companies are excluded’

By not working with Huawei equipment, the introduction of 5g in Europe will be 55 billion euros more expensive. That’s according to a telecom industry report by Reuters. The group that wrote the report represents 750 telcos.

Not only would the rollout cost 55 billion euros more, but it would also be delayed by about 18 months, according to telecom lobby group GSMA. That number is based on an embargo on both Huawei and ZTE at the same time, which have 40 percent market share in the EU, according to the report. Half of those costs would come from a lack of competition in the telecom market without these two Chinese companies.

Reuters does note that Huawei itself is one of the financiers of the telecom group, according to sources from the site. Furthermore, Nokia states that it can perform the upgrade from 4g to 5g more efficiently than the GSMA now estimates. The Finnish telecom company could do that by just adding equipment instead of replacing entire parts. Nokia now has more orders for 5G equipment than Huawei, it says itself.

The United States has imposed a trade ban with Huawei over the trade dispute with China. However, Huawei has also been regularly accused of spying on behalf of the Chinese government, which has cast doubts on its equipment’s use in 5G adoption in the coming years. If the equipment didn’t come from Huawei and ZTE, it would have to come from companies like Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung.