In another big win for Huawei, the Chinese vendor has won a bid to overhaul Telenor’s entire mobile infrastructure.
The Norwegian carrier yesterday said it had chosen Huawei and US vendor Starent Networks to swap out its existing infrastructure for an all-IP network, displacing established suppliers Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks.
“All the providers were evenly matched, but in the end Huawei and Starent Networks emerged as the winners. It was a combination of technical quality, reliability and commercial terms that was the deciding factor,” Telenor Norway CEO Ragnar Kårhus said.
Kårhus added that Huawei's innovation center was also a factor in the decision, calling it “a very exciting concept where partners are closely involved in developing future services and infrastructure.”
While the carrier would not disclose the cost of the investment it did say that it would represent a “moderate increase in investments over the next two years, and thereafter improve our cost and capex structure.”
The network overhaul includes multi-base stations for 2G, 3G/UMTS and 4G/LTE.
The vendor agreements will run for six years and still require final approval by Telenor’s board.