Clearwire to Buy Huawei Gear
Posted by: Olga Kharif on August 11, 2009
On Aug. 11, emerging wireless services provider Clearwire announced it selected Huawei as a provider of certain wireless networking gear. Huawei joins vendors Motorola and Samsung, which have already signed up to provide Clearwire with base stations that transmit wireless signals at cell sites. “It’s another proof that we are serious about the North American market,” Charlie Chen, senior vice president of marketing & product management for Huawei USA tells BusinessWeek.com.
The deal is the latest win for Huawei, which has been trying to break into the North American market for years. This spring, it won a contract to provide cable company Cox with wireless equipment. It provides equipment to Canada’s Telus and Bell. Clearly, Alcatel Lucent, Motorola, Ericsson and other vendors have got to watch out.
Already, Huawei’s win at Clearwire promises to reduce the pie for the other vendors, Motorola and Samsung. “The size of the opportunity [for each vendor] will be driven by their performance and costs,” John Saw, chief technology officer for Clearwire, tells BusinessWeek.com. And Huawei, which is based in China, is renowned for its lower costs.
