China Mobile has awarded initial LTE contracts worth around CNY 20 billion with Chinese suppliers Huawei and ZTE taking more than half, reports Reuters citing industry sources. Huawei Technologies and ZTE have obtained about 25 percent each of the total LTE procurement in China Mobile's tender this year, said the sources.
Foreign vendors such as Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks have obtained a share of around 10 percent each. China Mobile, Huawei and Ericsson could not be reached immediately for comment. ZTE declined to comment, while Alcatel-Lucent said it had not yet heard of any official decision from China Mobile.
People familiar with the deal told the Wall Street Journal that European vendors obtained about a third of the contracts. Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and NSN will each receive 11 percent of the deal. Huawei and ZTE will each receive 26 percent, with a collection of smaller Chinese suppliers winning the remaining 15 percent.
The WSJ adds that the EC is looking carefully at the contract as it decides whether to impose higher tariffs on Chinese equipment makers ZTE and Huawei. The reported award of one third of the China Mobile's network upgrade to European operators may be seen as sufficient compensation. European equipment makers and the EC believe their Chinese rivals benefit from government subsidies in their financing packages for carriers.
