Nokia received a boost in the Chinese market after securing a 5G radio contract in one of three tenders held by operator China Mobile, while Swedish rival Ericsson was awarded a lower share due to an ongoing spat between the nations.

A document published by China Mobile showed Nokia Shanghai Bell had been awarded a 10.1 per cent share in one of three 700MHz tenders, while Ericsson received 9.6 per cent in another contract.

As is commonplace, Chinese vendor Huawei picked up the majority of all three contracts, with ZTE also winning business, followed by smaller domestic company Datang Corporation.

Nokia notably missed out on 5G contracts with all three major Chinese operators in 2020, but CEO Pekka Lundmark said in April it would try to rectify the situation, vowing to bid on the second round of network tenders.

The company indicated it could be set for good news after raising its financial guidance last week, claiming a strong H1. It will release full details of its progress in its second quarter results announcement on 29 July.

Bleak
For Ericsson, fortunes in China are comparatively bleaker. Not only did it secure a lesser share than its chief European rival in China Mobile’s tender, but last week stated it took a revenue hit in Q2 due to lower sales in mainland China.

Going forward, it is also forecasting a lower market share, as retaliation for Sweden’s decision to ban products made by Huawei and ZTE from 5G networks.

China Telecom and China Unicom are also expected to announce winners of their second phase of 5G tenders imminently.

Outlining the drop-off, Ericsson stated it received 2 per cent in total for 700MHz, compared with 11 per cent for 2.6GHz.

It added any contracts from China Telecom and China Unicom would likely “be in a similar range” as China Mobile’s award.