DT reportedly tells Nokia to raise its 5G game, prompting a non-denial
A report claiming one of Europe’s biggest operator groups has demanded Nokia get its house in order when it comes to 5G has not really been refuted by either of them.
Reuters grabbed the exclusive with the headline ‘Fearing Huawei curbs, Deutsche Telekom tells Nokia to shape up’. The reporter had not only spoken to the ubiquitous anonymous source who reckons they know a thing or two, but got hold of internal documents too. They paint a picture of DT having a low opinion of Nokia’s 5G offering, resulting in the vendor being ditched by most of the countries in which it operates.
All the fuss around Huawei, however, especially the EU’s recent guidance, seems to have forced DT to have another look at Nokia, albeit with a heavy heart. It looks like DT has put the ball in Nokia’s court and told it there’s business to be had it if can raise its game. This doesn’t seem especially contentious since Nokia openly admits to having dropped the ball on 5G and DT wouldn’t have dropped it as a supplier without good reason, you assume.
But for some reason the two companies felt compelled to address the story nonetheless. “We have been a long-term partner of Deutsche Telekom and have been proud to work with them extensively over the years, providing leading network technology and services,” said Federico Guillén, President of Customer Operations, EMEA & APAC, Nokia. “We continue to work extensively with Deutsche Telekom which is one of our most significant customers, both in Europe and the U.S.”
“As one of the major European manufacturers, Nokia is of strategic importance to Deutsche Telekom,” said Claudia Nemat, Board Member Technology & Innovation, Deutsche Telekom. “It is well known that Deutsche Telekom is pursuing a multi-vendor strategy so that we are not dependent on just one supplier. This is an elementary part of our security philosophy. However, as in the past, Deutsche Telekom will not comment on individual contractual relationships and strategic purchasing decisions.”
So why bother with the announcement at all then? Nothing in either statement comes close to addressing the claims in the story, one way or the other, and the whole thing just comes across as a lame attempt at damage limitation, presumably driven by Nokia. But the good news for Nokia is that it’s first in line to get some scraps off the Huawei table if it can get its 5G act together.
“But in 2017 Nokia was dropped entirely from that market segment when Ericsson was handed a 30% share of Deutsche Telekom’s spending on it, reports in the trade press said at the time. It was the first of several wins for Ericsson. ”
Yeah, I think there’s also the chance that DT wants to play hardball with a vendor they dropped already in 2017, seeing DT doesn’t really have any Nokia LTE to build the 5G on. Scared of investments?
the Chinese theives need to know that they cannot get away with their deceptive business practices,it’s part of their culture to be deceptive to gain an advantage, whatever it takes the west must get the upper hand
As an Chinese living in Asia I have to agree, if you let the chinese communist party have the upper hand the world would be finished. Do not trust huawei.
Agreed! No matter how any China origin brand seem harmless, they are all sending back datas back to China through the manufacturers link. e.g I love Lenovo brand from PC,Phones and Tablets and taught myself to modify its operating system. After dissecting to decide which app are bloatwares , I will always find unknown apps in there snd tracking their activities I found that they are always trying to connect to a server in China so does 1001 other China brand. Oppo,Vivo it makes no difference if it was Huawei or not. Just imagine the hardcoding in Huawei equipments. The Americans has also been doing for time immemorial, Intel Corp microprocessors have Israels spy vodes hardcoded into it since its 16 bit era. Independent security firms discovered and declared it a security flaw and then everything was quiet but those codes were etched into the silicon chip not a malicious software code. That is why the Americans are fearful. It takes a thief to catch another and the pot calling kettle black.
Thanks for helping to uncover those things. One reason why people turn to Huawai is because the US has been spying on the rest of the world since a long time. I got away from Microsoft and now I also look for a solution to get rid of Google. I am waiting for something based on Linux.