Huawei trumps Nokia Siemens Networks

Chinese manufacturer Huawei won more orders for mobile phone base stations than any other firm in the last quarter of 2007, according to new research.

"2007 was the year of Huawei Technologies becoming a tier-one OEM supplier," said Earl Lum, president of EJL Wireless Research which tracks orders for telecoms infrastructure from mobile network operators.

"Huawei edged out Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks with 34 per cent of total contract awards during the quarter ending 31 December 2007.

"Alcatel-Lucent, which led total contract wins for the first three quarters of the year, dropped to fourth during the quarter."

Huawei took approximately half of the market for more advanced WCDMA and HSPA base stations, almost twice the share of closest competitor Ericsson, according to EJL's data.

A total of 53 significant mobile base station contracts were signed worldwide during the fourth quarter. Unlike the previous quarter, no single contract exceeded $1bn in value.

"The GSM market shifted in favour of WCDMA/HSPA and EVDO technologies in the quarter with the split between 2G and 3G technologies at 26 per cent and 74 per cent respectively," said Lum.

"Demand also shifted away from Asia Pacific back to Europe during the quarter which correlates with the higher concentration of 3G contracts awarded."

Demand for 3G base stations in Asia Pacific has been slowed by the Chinese government's decision to delay the introduction of 3G while the country develops its own standard.

Approximately 36 per cent of base station contracts were signed by mobile network operators in Europe during the quarter.