5G: The Outsourced Elephant in the Room

> Because of a relative lack of skills, operators are forced to buy integrated solutions, often from single vendors. There is little credible ability left to integrate solutions from different (partially competing) suppliers.

I am constantly suprised Hauwei's licensing model doesn't get more attention.

Broadly speaking, they have two licences for the various protocols (CAP, MAP, etc): - a really, really cheap one if both ends are Hauwei kit - an expensive one if you want to connect third-party kit to a Hauwei box.

So often, when a vendor tries to introduce another vendor's kit, they have to buy the new expensive protocol licence and the new kit.

This is carefully priced above the cost of Hauwei's equivalent kit.

I think the 5G fight is symbolic in the sense of losing face. From the article:” as noted in this (paywalled) Financial Times article:

As an icebreaker, [telecommunication operators] were asked if they thought the Chinese could eavesdrop through “backdoors” in Huawei equipment. Every single hand went up. One of the bankers then asked, for balance, if they thought the US could access communications through key Cisco equipment. “All the hands went straight back up without hesitation””

Outsourcing you say ?