The decision by the Australian government to prevent Huawei from participating in the rollout of 5G networks in the country will significantly increase costs for the country’s telecommunication operators - which in turn will end up hurting end-users.
Australia’s decision to ban Huawei shocked many in the global ICT industry. Huawei is a global leader in 5G and is seen a key enabler globally for operators seeking to commercially deploy 5G networks.
However, following pressure from the United States, the Australian government confirmed that Huawei would be prohibited from the buildout of 5G networks Down Under.
However, following a comprehensive study by a leading global management consulting firm, the decision looks like one that is going to hit operators and consumers in the pocket.
Management consultancy Arthur D. Little have confirmed that Australian mobile network operators will end up paying significantly higher prices for networking equipment because of the reduced competition due to the Huawei ban.
ADL last week released its 5G Country Leadership Index, which benchmarked more than 40 countries with regard to the performance of their 5G implementations.
ADL said that the Index identified Australia as one of the leaders in the advancement of its rollout because of good fibre coverage with the NBN, successful completion of the first spectrum auction, strong mobile network operator competition in the local market and high ICT adoption tendency (high income, high 4G usage)
However, Australia’s ban on the use of Huawei technology threatens to make the technology needlessly more expensive for network operators’ and as a consequence end users.
Karim Taga, managing partner and global practice leader TIME at ADL, expressed her concerns at Huawei’s ban and said the blanket ban is going to have devastating consequences for both operators and consumers.
Taga said, “Banning Huawei can have two consequences. The Chinese vendor has been doing well in pushing price competition and the cost of networking equipment in the US versus Asia will be up to 30% more expensive.
The other major downside of banning Huawei, according to Taga, was in the deployment of best in class technology and innovations.
“Australia may miss some of the 5G innovation potential coming from Huawei.”
