Nokia downplays report claiming it’s struggling to deliver 5G kit in South Korea

A report has alleged that Nokia is struggling to fulfill its 5G commitments to the three South Korean MNOs, but Nokia sort of insists everything’s cool.

Now it must be stressed this is just one report from a website called Business Korea that we’re not familiar with and we have yet to see the same claims made independently anywhere else. Having said that, if there is some substance to it then that’s not great news for Nokia and could have brand as well as financial consequences.

The headline reads ‘Mobile Carriers in Trouble for 5G Equipment from Nokia’. It starts by claiming that shipments of Nokia 5G gear are three months behind schedule and then goes on to say “Nokia’s equipment is lower in quality than those supplied by Samsung Electronics, Ericsson and Huawei. The former has shown some problems in interoperability testing and massive traffic processing.” It concludes by speculating that operators may need to take emergency measures to compensate for these failings.

We asked Nokia what it makes of all this and it responded with the following statement: “Nokia is actively delivering our 5G equipment to operators in Korea and we are confident that we will fulfill the 5G equipment needs of all customers. We have already started delivering 5G units to customers there and are increasing our 5G production capabilities. As a leading global communications company, we are committed to delivering best in-class products to all our partners and customers.”

That’s not the strongest rebuttal is it? The report doesn’t suggest no gear is being delivered, just that it’s late and not very good. Expressing confidence is not the same as saying the report is wrong and vowing to increase production capabilities sort of indicates they’re not currently up to scratch. Having said that it’s quite possible that everything’s fine and this report is barking up the wrong tree. The coming weeks may reveal more.