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Study: Huawei ban will add 30% to 5G cost

January 13, 2020

A global report from Oxford Economics explores the potential costs of restricting competition in the provision of 5G network equipment (with regard to price, time, and productivity) across eight leading markets: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UK and the US.

The report comes as Huawei has been blocked from competing for further 5G contracts in the US and Australia. In several other markets – including Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, and the UK – governments considering exclusion or have imposed partial restrictions.

Oxford Economics says its first systematic attempt to quantify the potential scale of the impact models three alternative scenarios – termed “low cost”, “central cost” and “high cost”.

As well as driving up costs, the report concludes that the increase in investment costs linked to the restriction of 5G competition would also lead to delays in the network rollout, meaning that millions fewer people would benefit from 5G coverage by 2023.

“A delay in the rollout of 5G would also result in slower technological innovation and reduced economic growth. In our central cost scenario, this would result in reductions to national GDP in 2035 ranging from $2.8 billion (€2.5 billion) in Australia to $21.9 billion in the US.”

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