February 23, 2022
Europe’s Path to Digital Sovereignty Will Be Paved With 5G Technology
Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson are two of the world’s preeminent telecommunications equipment manufacturers but their position is not assured. China’s Huawei remains the global leader in the telecommunications infrastructure market.
In response to U.S. efforts to curtail its activity in developed markets—which contributed substantially to Nokia and Ericsson’s resurgence—Huawei is focusing on emerging markets, where it can undercut competitor pricing by 30 percent.
To preserve European technology leadership in telecommunications, Europe should lead on open radio access networks (open RAN) technologies instead of opposing them.
Open RAN is a fundamental rethink of how wireless networks run. While previously networks used one hardware vendor, open RAN uses software to enable multiple hardware vendors to be used. This helps lower costs and allows for newer entrants to the wireless infrastructure market.
Nokia and Ericsson acknowledge this. At the same time, both companies offer critiques of open RAN. This is no surprise given that rapid adoption of open RAN would upend their current hardware-centered business model.
Some European analysts have also expressed concerns about the presence of Chinese companies in the O-RAN Alliance, an industry grouping dedicated to setting open RAN specifications. They argue the U.S., Japan, and Europe should not move forward with open RAN technology because Chinese companies are involved in standardizing it.
Read the full article from Fortune.
More from CNAS
-
Domestic Russia: Security Services, the Economy, and Elections
Podcast
Today we are turning to domestic Russian politics, with Russia’s State Duma elections coming up September 18th through the 20th. The elections are taking place in a more uncer...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
What America’s Adversaries and Allies Hope to Gain at the U.N. General Assembly
Commentary
This article was originally published in War on the Rocks. This year’s U.N. General Assembly officially opened on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The annual gathering gives diplomats and le...
By Nicholas Lokker
-
A Report Card for Europe’s Defense Industry
Podcast
As the war in Ukraine rages on, Ukraine has struggled this summer with a munitions shortage. With U.S. supplies strained by the war with Iran, European governments are having ...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
Sep 04, ’26 Washington Roundtable
Podcast
Jim Townsend, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, joins the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast to discuss the latest on the Iran War, Russi...
By Jim Townsend
