Huawei's Image is Improving Globally: Report

A recent report from Infonetics Research, an international market research and consulting firm that specializes in data networking and telecom, reportedly revealed that Huawei’s image is improving in the eyes of service providers.

 

The report, called “Mobile Infrastructure Vendor Ratings and Product Features: Global Service Provider Survey,” is part of Infonetics’ Mobile and LTE (News - Alert) Continuous Research Service. It polled purchase decision-makers at carriers in EMEA and Asia Pacific

 

According to the survey. service providers were asked about their familiarity with and ratings of mobile infrastructure vendors, which criteria are most important when selecting a vendor, and which features are most critical when purchasing RAN, mobile switching, mobile packet core, and Home Location Register equipment.

 

Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC at Infonetics Research, said it is clear that Huawei (News - Alert) has really improved its global image based on the recent mobile infrastructure service provider survey, market share reporting, and other carrier surveys. The discussions held with mobile operators indicate Huawei is now perceived as having good technology and offering good value for the price. Téral also noted that Huawei is overtaking Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) on many fronts, and is also set to attack Nokia Siemens Networks’ market position in the mobile infrastructure space.

 

In the survey, service providers were asked an open-ended question about who they consider to be the top three mobile infrastructure vendors to which all the respondents answered Nokia Siemens Networks (News - Alert).

 

The survey also contains a rating of the five mobile infrastructure vendors, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco (News - Alert), Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks on 8 criteria by service providers. The criteria are technology, product roadmap, security, management, price-to-performance ratio, pricing, financial stability, and service and support.

 

Among the infrastructure vendors, Ericsson received the highest ratings for service and support. The survey also found out that a majority of mobile operators are looking to reduce operating expenses by either outsourcing or sharing their RAN. This has resulted in related criteria becoming important in the vendor selection process.

 

For the report, Infonetics Research surveyed purchase decision-makers at service providers in Asia Pacific at 20 percent and Europe, the Middle East and Africa at 80 percent that operate a wireless network. The service providers participating in the mobile infrastructure vendor rating survey consisted of a mix of incumbents and competitive businesses that together represent 14 percent of the world’s carrier revenue and 12 percent of the world’s telecom capex.