Nokia will equip the central and southern region of the territory, which is claimed by China but has been self-governing since the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949.
Ericsson has not confirmed that it is equipping the rest of the territory, but this appears to be a similar model to that of Orange in France, which also went for a regional split between the two Scandinavian vendors.
Max Chen, president of Taipei-based Chunghwa Telecom’s mobile business group, said: “The transformation empowered by Nokia’s 5G technology will undoubtedly revolutionise the way we interact with the world. Chunghwa Telecom is committed to delivering industry-leading 5G to its consumer and enterprise customers, and we have every confidence in Nokia delivering this in a quick and reliable rollout.”
He also said, in a separate announcement from Ericsson: “In the process of upgrading to 5G networks, we need to shorten the time it takes to launch new features. Ericsson’s 5G core solution enables our 4G core to flexibly evolve into a shared 4G/5G network.”
Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) said the network rollout is already under way, and it plans a 5G launch in July 2020.
Tommi Uitto, president of mobile networks at Nokia, said: “Our technology will assist Chunghwa Telecom in its early launch of 5G services in Taiwan, while also allowing it to explore new revenue generators across consumer and enterprise markets. As one of the pioneering members of Chunghwa Telecom’s Taiwan 5G Alliance, we will jointly promote the digital transformation for public and private sectors to accelerate 5G momentum in Taiwan.”
Chafic Nassif, president of Ericsson Taiwan says: “Our enhanced 5G platform perfectly suits CHT’s needs to quickly launch new services to the market. This cooperation will serve to not only provide Taiwanese consumers and enterprises with the highest quality communication services but also accelerate the overall progress of 5G development in Taiwan.”
Chen added: “Ericsson’s Cloud VoLTE [voice over LTE] solution will allow our customers to enjoy a more convenient and higher quality 4G voice service today as well as 5G voice services in the future.”
