A victory for SingleRAN capabilities, Huawei VP says
Huawei’s deal to replace Everything Everywhere’s 2G network was not won on price alone, according to Tim Watkins, Huawei’s vice president for Western Europe.
Watkins said that Huawei had come through a very competitive selection process, and been through many rounds of negotiation. Huawei was selected because its SingleRAN solution offered the best quality and performance, as well as the clearest roadmap to future upgrades and capabilities, added Watkins.
The vendor will carry out a 100% replacement of Orange and T-Mobile’s existing 2G network, to create a single GSM network across the UK that covers 99% of the population. The merged network will give reduced opex cost in backhaul and power consumption, as well as provide EE with ability to add LTE to the same base stations using the same infrastructure. Huawei will also provide HD-like voice quality over 2G, Watkins said.
“It was predominantly about our roadmap for the future, our ability to meet the requirements of EE’s roadmap, because of the capabilities of the SingleRAN product,” Watkins said.
Watkins added that the contract is “very significant” as it is Huawei’s first major cellular contract in the UK – which he described as historically “a very difficult market”. “The deal will really gve us the credibility to go on and win more contracts,” he said.
Everything Everywhere has promised a statement to Mobile Europe on its selection process for the new 2G network.