A Huawei executive told Reuters that Huawei expects to lead Brazil's 5G development, but the country will face some challenges in deploying 5G services to catch up with other Latin American countries.
Nicolas Driesen, Huawei's technology director, said Huawei had successfully tested 5G with all four major Brazilian operators and was helping them modernize their infrastructure before the long-awaited band auction.
"Since 2009, we have been trying to develop 5G, and our end-to-end technology is cost-competitive because it can reuse some of the equipment of previous generations," he said in an interview later last week.
Ericsson Sweden (ERICb. ST) and Nokia Finland (NOKIA. HE) are also competing for 5G business, but Huawei's low cost and long-term relationship make it dominant in most Latin American countries.
But even with Huawei taking the lead, Brazil is still lagging behind other countries in the region, Driesen said.
Uruguay, Brazil's neighbour, became the first Latin American country to deploy a 5G business network in April. "Mexico is also one to two years ahead of Brazil," Driesen said, adding that Brazil could still catch up with other Latin American countries if the March 2020 auction goes ahead as planned. Some industry observers are concerned that the auction may be delayed because the relevant rules remain to be determined.
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