LIVE FROM CCA ANNUAL CONVENTION, ORLANDO, FLORIDA: An Ericsson executive revealed the company is working to make inroads with Huawei’s regional US operator customers, aiming to boost its market share during the Chinese vendor’s ongoing political struggle with the US government.

Huawei VP of sales William Levy declared in a panel session “Huawei doesn’t need the USA” to be successful, but insisted the vendor remains committed to its US operator partners, which mainly include smaller and rural players.

He added: “we’re not going anywhere” and urged operators not to let “political jargon get in the way of good decision-making”.

But Amy McCune, VP of Ericsson’s Regional Carriers customer unit (pictured), told Mobile World Live the Swedish vendor is ready to step into Huawei’s shoes. Specifically, McCune said Ericsson identified around ten operators with roughly 1,500 sites that are in a “challenging position” with Huawei in turmoil, and offered reassurance their network needs can still be met.

Ericsson contacted “many of them and made clear that we’re here to help them to the best of our ability as they look at what they may choose to do in the future,” she explained.

Game plan
While Ericsson holds around a 50 per cent market share in the US regional operator market, McCune said the company would ideally like to grow that number further.

The key to Ericsson’s strategy is offering “right-sized” options for smaller players, including as-a-service products and solutions that let regional operators “pay as you grow”, McCune explained. She noted the vendor launched a network manager-as-a-service in 2017 and in 2019 plans to unveil an analytics-as-a-service product.