Although US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned that the US will not partner with countries that adopt Huawei’s technology, British multinational telecommunications operator Vodafone and South Korea’s LG Uplus have shown their support for Huawei at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain.
Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone, which operates telecommunication networks in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific, said on Monday during a press conference held at MWC that excluding Huawei as a supplier of 5G infrastructure to Europe’s communications networks could limits options in the supply chain and might delay 5G roll-out on the continent by two years.
One day earlier, Huawei demonstrated 4K video-streaming over a 5G network that utilises the company’s equipment and is operated by Vodafone Spain.
Also at MWC, LG Uplus and Huawei announced the establishment of a 5G commercial network in South Korea, with base stations built at more than 10,000 sites.
The 2019 Mobile World Congress runs between February 25th and February 28th.