Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone Group, announced that the company will remove Huawei equipment from its core networks across Europe at a cost of €200 million. He has also welcomed decisions by authorities to encourage different policies for core and RAN equipment. The move comes one year after Vodafone placed a hold on the purchase and installation of new Huawei core network equipment in its European networks.
Read said the policy to strip would only significantly impact operations on mainland Europe and comes following recent political statements. During Vodafone’s update, Read warned any EU state placing a wholesale ban on Huawei would likely experience a slowdown in investment for 5G infrastructure, as planned CAPEX would have to be reallocated to removing existing RAN equipment.
Speaking of business report, Read said the company was progressing well with measures to reduce operating expenses, integrate assets acquired from Liberty Global, and create a company to house tower assets in Europe. Vodafone is still assessing the viability of an IPO of its new tower business, with the executive stating the float was likely to take place in early 2021 should it be deemed the best option.
Group revenue in the quarter of €11.8 million was up 6.8 percent on a yearly basis. Read said that, despite the value segment in Europe remains challenging, Vodafone improved broadband sales and customer loyalty on the continent. It also booked gains in service revenue from its Rest of the World revenue, which includes subsidiary Vodacom.
Nokia and SURF, the organization for IT in Dutch education and research, have successfully reached a single carrier 800Gb/s optical transmission over SURF’s existing cross-border, multi-vendor research and education network infrastructure.
Nokia and Vodafone are collaborating to test the viability of L4S technology over passive optical networks (PON).
The GSMA believes that critical reform of European laws is necessary to position the region as a technology frontrunner by 2030.
