Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei dominance beginning to fade – analyst

Market share estimates from TrendForce suggest challengers to trio of  dominant network infrastructure vendors are beginning to gain traction.

This is not to say that there will a dramatic decline in fortunes for these companies, but it is an encouraging sign for an industry which has been craving competition and diversity in the supplier ecosystem for years. Perhaps viable alternatives are beginning to scale.

While Huawei and ZTE have certainly seen their prospects in the international markets erode, it is always worth bearing in mind the domestic Chinese market is forecast to be bigger than the rest of the world combined over the next few years. Huawei and ZTE want to be more than Chinese suppliers, but there is certainly enough domestic business for the pair to survive without success in the international markets.

It is also worth bearing in mind that Samsung has benefited considerably from the aggressive 5G deployment in South Korea, and North America. These markets will begin to level off before too long, and perhaps then we will see how much of a competitive force the firm is when in more direct competition with other rivals.

But it is the ‘Other’ category which most people will be interested in. This is where the OpenRAN community sits, and while there is certainly interest, this is a technology in its embryonic days. That said, the likes of NEC, Fujitsu and Parallel Wireless are talking a good game, albeit an unvalidated one.