Huawei won't get more than a slice of Spark's 5G pie

Monday, 26 August 2019

Spark has a lab at Auckland's Wynyard Quarter where it has been promoting the benefits 5G and is now in middle of selecting its network vendors.

Spark will take a 'multi-vendor' approach to buying access equipment for its 5G mobile network, Spark technology director Mark Beder says.

The decision means that even if Spark does attempt to overturn the block on China's Huawei supplying radio access equipment for its future network, Huawei could not get the whole pie.

The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) knocked back a proposal by Spark to use Huawei gear in its 5G network in December because of a network security concern, since when Huawei has been at the centre of a spiralling sanction threat from the United States.

The radio access network (RAN) is usually the most expensive component of a mobile network.

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Spark sourced the RAN for its 4G network from Huawei while buying the components of its core network from United States company Cisco and Sweden's Ericsson.

But Beder said Spark had decided to extend its multivendor approach for its forthcoming 5G network by sourcing its RAN from more than one vendor.

Ericsson and Nokia are the best known alternative suppliers of 5G access equipment, but South Korea's Samsung, as well as China's ZTE, are also market contenders.

Samsung has been pitching its equipment at telcos wanting to operate multi-vendor environments.

'I can't give answers as to whether it is two or whether it is three, but it will be more than one vendor going into a 5G world,' Beder said.

'We are in a vendor selection process at the moment.'

Whatever choices Spark made, it would need to resubmit its planned approach to the GCSB for approval, he said.

That would likely happen in the next few months.

If Huawei was still in the mix for Spark, and if the GCSB still had concerns, GCSB Minister Andrew Little could be asked to make a final call on whether to allow its involvement.

Vodafone is set to launch a commercial 5G service in December using equipment from its established technology provider, Nokia.

Beder said more telcos around the world were taking a multi-vendor approach.

'5G is a long game, so you wouldn't want to pick 'one' and be limited to that.'