Chunghwa Telecom goes for Ericsson and Nokia 5G network deployment
Taiwanese carrier Chunghwa Telecom has skirted around Huawei to select Ericsson and Nokia technology for its 5G network.
Ericsson will be used in the network core. It will also supply radio kit for the 3.5GHz and 28GHz spectrum bands, while Nokia said it will be responsible for 5G radio deployment in central and southern Taiwan.
Chunghwa Telecom is looking to launch its network in July.
"In the process of upgrading to 5G networks, we need to shorten the time it takes to launch new features. Ericsson's 5G core solution enables our 4G core to flexibly evolve into a shared 4G/5G network," Chungwa Telecom president of mobile business group Max Chen said.
"Meanwhile, Ericsson's Cloud VoLTE solution will allow our customers to enjoy a more convenient and higher quality 4G voice service today as well as 5G voice services in the future."
Ericsson said it had been working with Chunghwa Telecom on 5G since 2017, while Nokia boasted it has been working with the telco since 1973.
The combination of Ericsson and Nokia has been used by many telcos in the Asia-Pacific. In May 2019, Japanese telco SoftBank said it would use the telco equipment pair, compatriot KDDI went in the same direction, and Singtel-owned Australian telco Optus uses both Ericsson and Nokia for its 5G network.