Movistar cools on Huawei
December 17, 2019
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Spanish telco Movistar will drastically reduce the amount of equipment it buys from China’s Huawei for the core of its 5G networks in Europe.
The Chief Technology and Information Officer, Enrique Blanco, said the company will rely on several different providers to provide the equipment for the most sensitive part of its 5G infrastructure adding that it was “a purely technical decision”.
Until now, Movistar has relied entirely on Huawei for its core G networks in Spain and Germany but under the new strategy this will disappear by 2024.
Between 2021 and 2023, Movistar plans to create a new architecture from a fragmented core counting on different manufacturers like Ericsson, Nokia or US Affirmed Networks with Huawei being relegated to a second place.