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07/09/2020

Samsung Wins Verizon 5G Deal Outpacing Nokia




Samsung Wins Verizon 5G Deal Outpacing Nokia
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics has reportedly beat Finnish telecom firm Nokia to bag a part of the contract to supply new 5G equipment to Verizon in the United States, and this is being seen as a major blow to the Finnish company, claimed reports quoting information from various sources with knowledge of the matter.
 
The global position of Samsung as potential and strong rival to the dominance of Nokia and its Nordic rival Ericsson in selling telecom gear has been further strengthened with the South Korean company bagging this $6.64 billion contract.
 
China’s telecom equipment making giant Huawei had already been barred from participating in any of the 5G technology upgrades for mobile telephony carriers of the United States following a series of sanctions by the US government.
 
This loss of the contract for Nokia takes place at a time when its new Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark had taken over to head the company in August. Reports however quoted sources that negotiations with Verizon and Nokia for the 5G contract were ongoing prior to Lundmark taking charge as the company head.
 
There were no comments on the news available from Nokia in the media.
 
"We play a critical role in enabling Verizon's 3G and 4G networks and continue to work with them to accelerate innovation in 5G," said a spokeswoman for Nokia. "They remain a top three global customer."
 
More than one supplier is used for building various parts of a network by most of the major telecom firms of the world such as Verizon. However, race for radio contracts in 5G upgrading is the most severely fought ones because it account for a large part of the spending by mobile communications carriers.
 
Nokia's ability to invest in technology at the same rate at its competition could be impacted by the company loosing the contract, said Liberum analyst Janardan Menon. Nokia rival might have even increased its share at Verizon, Menon said. Liberum has a "hold" rating on Nokia shares.

 
No comment from Ericsson on the matter was available.
 
Share of Nokia dropped by 1 per cent on the news.
 
After reports in the media in July bout brokerage JPMorgan saying pointing out a real possibility for Nokia about Verizon would bring down its dependence on Nokia as its primary supplier for RAN (radio access network) and the US mobile carrier could instead shift towards Samsung in the future, there was a sharp drop in the shares of Nokia.
 
(Source:www.usnews.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

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