Wind has agreed a €1 billion contract with Huawei for the Chinese vendor to implement and build the company's high-speed mobile data network. The agreement goes against security concerns from the US and Australian markets over Huawei's links to the Chinese government, and follows a recent partnership with Telecom New Zealand for a similar purpose.
“We're in a leadership position and we want to consolidate that position,” Roberto Loiola, VP at Huawei told the Financial Times.
Huawei will use its Italian partner Sirti to build the network, and revenue will reportedly be divided between the two; although Huawei will stand as the controlling party.
Maintenance services, as well as the initial construction, are also said to be included in the contract which marks a move towards Huawei as a more comprehensive service provider.
“Ericsson has been focussing on services for a while now, with Huawei just starting out on that route,” Steven Hartley, analyst at Ovum, told reporters.
“Huawei still needs to build its reputation in this area.”
Huawei is thought to be involved in nearly half of the world's LTE network deployments, and the contract with Wind is, according to the company, one of the five biggest LTE contracts in Europe.
“Europe is Huawei's most important strategic market,” Loiola adds.
