The telecommunications industry is not immune from the political tensions and the war of attrition that has been reigning between China and the USA and other European countries for some time now.  The emergence of Chinese vendor and original equipment manufacturer Huawei as a serious competitor to other vendors and manufacturers has been a notable event in the last decade. As a vendor, the Chinese company has been increasing its ties with operators throughout the world. As a smartphone manufacturer, Huawei has been poised to dethrone Apple and Samsung as the leader in the industry. After President Trump’s executive order in 2019, the war on the Chinese giant escalated massively and most of the US allies were involved in a way or another in this technological collateral damage resulting from the ongoing tensions. One of the biggest US allies, the United Kingdom has been lately at the center of attention with the decision to remove Huawei components from most wireless networks with a deadline set to January 2023.  Why the United Kingdom hates Huawei is a question with an answer that goes well beyond its geographical borders, with many factors contributing to this relation.

The Huawei Ban

The fight against Huawei hasn’t started in May 2019 with President Trump’s executive order that placed Huawei and other Chinese companies on the Entity List, preventing them from doing business with entities and organizations operating in the USA.  Huawei has been accused of intellectual property theft for a long time starting with the accusations of Cisco in 2003. Many other big companies such as Motorola and Nortel joined the fore in accusing the Chinese company of patent infringements and other security breaches. Huawei has consistently proclaimed its innocence though.

The “official” ban that started in 2019 meant that Huawei could not work with the likes of Google and Qualcomm, two of the closest partners to the Chinese company in the USA. The main reason for the ban is the suspicion that the equipment used by Huawei and other Chinese companies can be used for spying purposes by the Chinese government. While Trump’s mandate has ended, the ban effects is ongoing as more and more countries and companies having to cut the ties with the manufacturer.

A Ban to Throttle Huawei’s Eventual 5G Dominance

The Huawei ban can also be seen as one key component of the raging 5G war. It is rather not surprising that the time of the ban coincided with the official deployment of 5G networks. Huawei has in fact become among the best telecom infrastructure providers and the leader in 5G equipment market . The good value for money that Huawei is known for has made it the partner of choice for may operators around the world. It has even significantly contested the dominance of Ericsson and Nokia. Huawei’s technology is also considered among the most advanced.

5G at the Heart of the UK-Huawei Issues

The decision of UK prime minister Boris Johnson to ban Huawei equipment focused specifically on its 5G technology. The task has been much more difficult that originally thought. The main problem is in changing the core component of the network without disrupting services to the customers. British Telecom, the leading operator in the country raised the voice regarding the deadline to phase out Huawei equipment. This illustrates the high reliance of global operators and British ones on the Chinese manufacturer.

The daunting task awaiting operators in the country is to gradually changing network components without disrupting services and while maintaining the same performance levels. This is not obvious as the equipment from various vendors has different properties, and the network needs to be reoptimized to guarantee at least coverage and capacity requirements. What politics does not understand is that telecom infrastructure can’t be changed with the click of a button.

So, to be more specific, the position of the UK as a key ally to the USA has had a big influence on the country’s decision regardless of the economic repercussions. Although many companies inside and outside the UK voiced their desire to re-establish a connection with Huawei, this hasn’t affected to gradual ban prospects.

Can the Chinese Giant Survive the Ban?

Since the ban started, Huawei has been developing its own ecosystem in terms of smartphones, operating system, and more telecom-related segments, in a way to make it independent of the effects of the ban. The sanctions on the company have indeed affected its revenues. Huawei can however rely on its strong presence its home country China. The company provides a large chunk of the infrastructure for most operators in the country. Huawei also has strong presence in external markets and countries which are not affected by the US decision. Although the business of the company has been affected, the question related to its survival is out of question.

Can Telecom Companies Survive Without Huawei?

A lot of companies in the USA, UK, and many other countries have been relying a lot on Huawei’s advanced technology. The sudden disappearance of their trusted partner will have several effects. Manufacturers will have to upgrade their equipment without the components provided by Huawei. As for telecom operators, Huawei’s absence will force them into looking into the new partners among the competition, searching for a similarly advanced technology. In broader terms, the 5G roll-out plans for several countries including the UK will be severely affected as Chinese manufacturers, such as Huawei, have a significant contribution in all domains of the process.

Summary

The Huawei saga is far from ending soon. Its significance far exceeds the legal battle between Samsung and Apple. The notable presence of Huawei in the telecom industry has made it difficult to simply wipe it out from deployed infrastructures. The role the company is playing in the 5G market also makes it much difficult to sideline it from future 5G projects. Why the United Kingdom hates Huawei? The UK’s decision has notably been of political nature and the struggles of British operators to remove Huawei components from their network is a clear indicator. The important question is whether they will meet the specified deadline to remove all Huawei equipment without clearly affecting the network performance or 5G plans.

“Inside Telecom provides you with an extensive list of content covering all aspects of the tech industry. Keep an eye on our Telecoms, and 5G space to stay informed and up-to-date with our daily articles.”

China is one of the largest countries around the world. Together with India, it accounts for about one third of the world’s population and two thirds of Asia’s population. The country has been enjoying steady economic growth with a gross domestic product (GDP) increase of about 10 percent each year according the World Bank. However, the last few years witnessed a slowdown in GDP growth with estimated 5 percent in 2022. The coronavirus pandemic and several challenges contributed to the slowdown. As in other countries, 5G seen as an opportunity for economic growth. In contrast to neighboring India which should see the new fifth generation later this year, Chinese operators have deployed the latest technology three years ago. A few days ago, telcos has welcomed the fourth 5G provider, namely China Broadnet.

Telecommunications in China

The telco landscape in mainland China has been dominated by three operators, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. China Mobile is undoubtedly the largest operator in the country with a number of subscribers nearly three times that of China Telecom and Unicom. Given the political system in the country, the three operators are backed by the Government of China. The sector is regulated by the ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The strength of the telecom sector in the country is not limited to the service provided in the country, but also to the presence of operators and vendors outside the country as well. China Mobile has a presence in Hong Kong, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. China Telecom has two subsidiaries for the European and American markets. China Unicom has a subsidiary named China Unicom Global Limited which has been established to cover telecom markets outside China. Vendors and original equipment manufacturers have also been dominating telecom markets outside the country. Despite the US. sanctions and the talks about intellectual property infringements, these companies have used their aggressive pricing strategy to get into the ecosystem of most countries around the world. Huawei, ZTE, and some lesser known brands have rivalled with the likes of Ericsson and Nokia. Their phone segments have also become popular with their offerings which provide the best value for money. In countries where notable economic difficulties, Chinese brands are the best sellers.

The Chinese 5G Landscape

The large Asian country has been unsurprisingly one of the early adopters of the latest wireless evolution. The Chinese market is huge and full of opportunities compared to other markets. According to spokesmen from the MIIT, all cities and around 90 percent of the rural areas have 5G coverage in the country. This is higher than 5G coverage in the USA for example. The number of 5G cell-sites is also expected to reach the two million mark by the end of 2022. The investments by telecom operators is expected to be around Yuan 1.2 trillion which is about USD 179 billion. The investments are not only in the infrastructure but in advanced technologies that will help the operators unlock the full potential of the 5G evolution. Earlier in May, Huawei and China Telecom announced their super time-frequency folding technology, which in simple terms, combines the merits of time and frequency division duplexing (TDD and FDD) to achieve high uplink and downlink data rates while reducing the perceived latency as much as possible. This will allow to meet the requirements for ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) use cases in the future.

The 5G network has been gradually deployed in the country between the second half of 2019 and early 2020. While the pandemic has had an impact on the different plans in the country, the different activities related to the telecom infrastructure hasn’t been affected much. The initial deployment was in the n41 band (2.6GHz) for China Mobile and the n78 band (3.5GHz) for China Telecom and Unicom. To extend coverage, the low sub-1GHz bands are being planned for better coverage. As a noteworthy example, China Telecom and Unicom are co-building the 5G network, with cost-saving in sight.

China Broadnet as a Fourth 5G Provider

At the end of June 2022, a fourth operator has started providing services and potentially compete with the other three operators. Named China Broadnet, the new entrant started offering 4G and 5G services to customers.

The announcement was important for two reasons. Firstly, China Broadnet strategically decided to operate in the 80 MHz bandwidth its mother company China broadcasting network (CBN) acquired in the 700 MHz golden band in 2019. The new operator also owns spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band (n79) which it may use as well. The second notable event is that China Broadnet is cooperating with the leading operator to deploy its network and will probably rely first partially on its partner operator’s network. The agreement which spans multiple years allows the new entrant a paid access to the leading operator’s network notably in the 2.6GHz band. The new operator also chose ZTE as a partner to build the new infrastructure.

In a sense, the Chinese telcos has organized themselves into two groups, China Mobile and Broadnet are collaborating to integrate the new entrant into the ecosystem. The bands acquired by Broadnet and the already existing bands that China Mobile uses should provide some nice future insights for the partnership given the wide spectrum availability when combining all the bands. On the other side, the remaining two operators are working on their own 5G network.

Summary

Despite all the controversy surrounding Chinese operators and vendors, and the persistent political tensions with the USA and other European countries, the telecom market in China remains a prosperous, interesting, and unique model. The advent of the fourth operator with all telco politics surrounding it shouldn’t cause a major impact directly. The partnership with China Mobile and the gradual rollout of the network promises a change in the competition dynamics in the near future, notably if China Broadnet can deliver unique services that can set it apart from its competitors.

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The latest fifth evolution of wireless networks has been shaping up the telecom sector for a couple of years now.  The US market is among the first to adopt the new standard. The three main operators, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon have lately been joined by a new 5G provider, Dish. The company has long been involved in TV and satellite broadcast services. Its subsidiary Dish Wireless, founded in 2020, is specialized in mobile communications services. Initially, the company provided services under the Boost Mobile brand, using the T-Mobile and AT&T networks under national roaming agreements. However, it has started making a name for itself through the recently launched 5G network.

A Matter of Firsts in the Dish 5G Network

Despite all the issues surrounding the launch of the new 5G network, the Dish approach has included a lot of unique elements that are worth emphasizing.

Standalone 5G Core and O-RAN Integration

Dubbed Smart 5G network, Dish has strategically decided to deploy 5G in Standalone mode, that is, with a dedicated 5G core. Given the virtualization properties in the new standard, Dish has been able to move all functionalities to the cloud. This important feature will allow the company to customize its network and upgrade core functionalities with little cost. Although the initial capital expenditures amounted to around USD 2 Billion, having a virtualized core would considerably slash the investments needed for any upgrade on the core side.

To complete the flexible deployment philosophy, the radio access network (RAN) component has received the open treatment. Adhering to the O-RAN standard will allow the company to work concurrently with multiple vendors. Increased competition and non-proprietary equipment will drive down costs significantly. As an extension to cloud-native core functionalities, many RAN related functions can be implemented on the cloud including the RAN intelligent controller (RIC) and other virtualized functions related to other components of the RAN architecture. To complete this project, Dish has partnered with major players in the field such as Mavenir and AWS, mostly vendors from the USA. Samsung has also been announced last month as a key partner in Dish’s 5G expansion, supplying the new operator with its software, O-RAN compliant radio units with massive-MIMO support. The partnership extends to the Samsung Galaxy S22 which is among the selected phones offered to Dish 5G customers.

New Frequency Bands

Dish was the first get hold of several parts of band 70 just after its approval from the 3GPP. The band includes Dish’s AWS-4 spectrum (2000 MHz to 2020 MHz), H-Block downlink spectrum (1995 MHz to 2000 MHz), and unpaired AWS-3 uplink spectrum (1695 MHz to 1710 MHz). This band is a unique band which supports asymmetrical bandwidths with more bandwidth available for the downlink. Earlier this year, the Federal communications commission (FCC) approved two new Motorola phones that support this band.

Another noticeable acquisition for Dish is in the CBRS band. This unique band allows in particular the advent of private 5G networks as a provided service, and potentially neutral host networks. This justifies the USD 913 million spent on licenses in that band.

These particular bands add to the large numbers of bands the company acquired in the last few years including bands 29, 66, 71, and 77.

A Very “Slow” Start

Dish has been allowed to deploy its 5G network gradually before reaching proper nationwide coverage. The initial phase has been completed with the launch of the network mid-June to cover 20 percent of the territory avoiding a USD 200 million penalty for the June commitment to the FCC. The initial launch hasn’t been as smooth as hoped with several issues, mostly related to speed and coverage.

Early-4G Speeds on a 5G Network?

Reports from the United States indicate several issues regarding the perceived performance on Dish’s 5G network. Download speed were as low as 5 Megabits per second in some areas, with upload ones below 1 Megabits per second. This is equivalent to early 4G networks which were deployed more than a decade ago. A lot of Dish users were also handed over to the AT&T and T-Mobile networks with which Dish has roaming agreement with.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise given the initial small geographical footprint of the Dish network. As this is a new aggressive deployment strategy that involves most cloud-based functionalities, troubleshooting and learning how to optimize the related software functions. The optimization of the existing network and the projected upgrades should gradually iron out any inconsistency in performance.

The inconsistency in performance can also be attributed to the difference between the T-Mobile and AT&T networks. According to the latest report by PC Mag for the best mobile network in the USA in 2022, T-Mobile ranked first while AT&T ranked third. The difference in upload and download speeds was also very significant. As Dish users would most probably be roaming on one of these two networks, the performance discrepancy could sometimes very notable.

No Apple Phones with the Dish 5G Network?

The current main devices supported by Dish 5G are the Samsung Galaxy S22, the Motorola Edge+, and its own Celero 5G. There was no mention for Apple products, although Boost Mobile supports the iPhone 13 lineup. One of the biggest issues is band 70 which only supported by some Motorola phones recently cleared by the FCC. Eventually, Apple flagships will certainly be among the official supported list by Dish, especially with the popularity of the brand in the US.

Summary

The long history of Dish in the digital world have made its emergence as the fourth 5G provider in the country, a major event. The uniqueness in the network design and the large investments for such a small geographical footprint, has paved the way for further discussions and criticism. The large budget available for the 5G project will allow Dish to slowly escape agreements with other operators to build their network in the next few years. Until then, engineers working on the project would have acquired further understanding of the peculiarities of the new network design. The large number of bands the company currently holds should help it in this direction as well.

“Inside Telecom provides you with an extensive list of content covering all aspects of the tech industry. Keep an eye on our Telecoms, and  5G space to stay informed and up-to-date with our daily articles.”