Reducing telecom vendors won't be healthy for industry, says Vodafone

Barcelona: Vodafone on Monday said there are only three major telecom vendors, including Huawei, in the world and moving to block the Chinese company would not be good for the industry.

Apart from Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia are the two other major telecom vendors. "This is not a Vodafone topic, it is an industry topic. Huawei plays a major role in supply chain (of telecom equipment). If you look at it from our perspective, we have resiliency and security in our networks. If we concentrate down to two players, it is not healthy," Vodafone Chief Executive Officer Nick Read said here.

He was responding to queries regarding discussions going on in the industry about security issues related to Huawei.

In India, Vodafone's joint venture Vodafone Idea has partnered with Huawei for 5G trials. Certain countries have blocked purchase of 5G equipment from Huawei due to security concerns.

According to reports, there are attempts to block purchase of Huawei equipment due to global politics rather than security concerns. Read also indicated that there is a need for evidence-based facts for decision making with respect to choosing vendors.

The decision of Vodafone to stop using Huawei equipment and adopting Nokia solution in Germany was only a business decision and it should not be misread, he said.