Ericsson is cheapest vendor in Huawei’s China ops

DIFFERENT TACK: To get bigger volumes, industry analysts expect Ericsson to sign deals with external companies that sell its products.

BEIJING: In China, home to Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp, it’s cheaper to buy network equipment from Sweden’s Ericsson AB.

According to a tender by China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd’s parent to purchase some 4G base stations, Ericsson offered to sell its products for 21 billion yuan (US$3.1bil), or 25% below Huawei and 22% lower than ZTE’s offer. Nokia Oyj asked for the highest price at 34.7 billion yuan.