According to foreign media reports on July 10, Malaysia has officially selected Ericsson as its 5G partner. This is sad and difficult to understand news. Malaysia has always had a good relationship with our country. The former prime minister also praised Huawei. He had previously hinted that Huawei would be used in the 5G cooperation project. However, the project with a total price of US$2.65 billion (17.1 billion yuan) was suddenly awarded to Ericsson. This made It is difficult for people to understand why Malaysia, which is leaning towards Huawei, suddenly changed its mind? Is there any secret hidden behind this?
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had previously publicly supported Huawei, saying that the United States must understand that it will not always be the leading technological power and must accept that Eastern countries are also capable of technological research and development. Huawei's The R&D capabilities have far exceeded Malaysia's overall R&D capabilities, and we will cooperate more with Huawei in the future. When asked about data and information security, he responded that Huawei has no reason to spy on Malaysia because we are like an open book and there are no secrets to hide.
It is obvious from Prime Minister Mahathir’s statement that Malaysia very much recognizes Huawei’s 5G technology, and also admits that the entire Malaysia’s research and development capabilities may not be as good as Huawei. This is Malaysia’s tendency The most important reason for Huawei. Huawei has the highest shipment rate in the global 5G equipment market, and the number of 5G base stations also exceeds its peers. As an industry leader with thousands of 5G technology patents, it is expected that it will be favored by Malaysia.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad does not care at all about Lao America’s fabrication of Huawei 5G affecting information security. First of all, even in Europe, which has the most vocal opposition to the use of Huawei's 5G equipment, there are still countries that have expressed their willingness to stand with Huawei and actively use Huawei's 5G products. This shows that Huawei's 5G technology is safe and does not involve any surveillance.
In addition, Malaysia is a friendly neighbor of our country. The two countries have maintained close cooperation for a long time and have always maintained consistent views on many issues. We have always had an attitude of utmost trust in our neighbors, and would never do something as despicable as spying. In the past few years, it was the Americans who were frequently exposed for spying, and it was also the Americans who shouted to catch thieves.
Mahathir also said something that attracted special attention. He said that the United States must also accept that we in the East are also capable of doing research. This shows that he very much approves of our scientific research work. In terms of consciousness, he supports Eastern countries against the hegemony and monopoly of Western countries.
In fact, Huawei has cooperated with Malaysian Maxis on 5G as early as 2019. Not only does Maxis hope that Huawei can help it transform its LTE network to suit Huawei's 5G equipment, but Huawei also Arranged a team of experts to go to Malaysia to provide training, operation, maintenance and other technical support for Maxis.
Therefore, in this Malaysian 5G project bidding, the outside world thought that selecting Huawei was a matter of course, but the result was beyond our expectations. Why Malaysia suddenly abandoned Huawei and signed a contract with Ericsson? We can only find some answers from clues.
There is absolutely no problem with the technical equipment. Not only is it recognized by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the two parties have already had in-depth cooperation as early as 2019. At the same time, the information security issues fabricated by Lao and the United States are completely nonsense from the Malaysian perspective. talk. When there are no problems with technical equipment and information security, the only way to analyze it is in terms of price.
It is reported that Huawei quoted 23.29 billion to Malaysia, while Ericsson quoted 17 billion. The price difference between the two parties is more than 6 billion. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Malaysia did not choose Huawei. After all, Malaysia has also had cases in which cooperation projects were stalled due to price issues.
Although Malaysia is equally friendly to Huawei and even China, it may not take special care of Chinese companies strategically.
Moreover, Malay itself is not a particularly wealthy country. If a prime minister is replaced by a prime minister who is more considerate of the country's economy, it is difficult to guarantee that he will not hesitate in the choice. It is understandable that he will eventually turn to the "high quality and low price" Ericsson.
Moreover, Malay has held a Malay Dignity Conference before. As the name suggests, this conference is to improve the overall dignity of the Malays. In the resolution announced at this conference, the economic aspect requires that the rights and interests of the Malays must be guaranteed first, and the official must first consider allowing the Malays to participate in high-tech projects. It can be seen from this that Malaysia may be changing its policy. In the future, Chinese companies may be required to make more concessions when cooperating with Malaysia. This is also closely related to the failure to select Huawei this time.
Originally, normal mobile communication projects should be handed over to domestic operators. However, because Malaysia hopes to centralize the use of 5G networks, it has recently established an organization dedicated to building 5G networks, called the "Malaysian National Digital Limited". In this way, Huawei will have no advantage in the bidding. As a mobile network communication equipment manufacturer, Huawei itself has the most contact with operators. Operators can even directly decide to let Huawei do this project, but the newly established bidding unit will consider more about price.
Relevant departments in Malaysia have directly handed over the set 5G spectrum to the National Digital Corporation, which will make it more convenient to cooperate with communication equipment manufacturers and hope to reduce costs in this way. It is also worth mentioning that this national digital company is led by the Ministry of Finance of Malay. It can be understood that the Ministry of Finance directly selects cooperative enterprises. Huawei, which originally had good relations with operators, would never have thought that Malay would have such a hand.
After all, Malaysia is a small country. If it wants to survive in the cracks, it cannot refuse the United States and can only please both sides. But after changing to a prime minister who is not strong on Laos and the United States, facing external pressure, abandoning Huawei may also be a helpless move.
Moreover, in 2014, Malaysia upgraded its bilateral relations with Laos and the United States to a comprehensive partnership, with further cooperation in economy, security, and science and technology. On the one hand, the United States can threaten Malaysia through trade deficit, and it can also win over Malaysia in the technological and economic aspects. Under coercion and inducement, Malaysia has no reason to refuse. I believe this is understandable to our country. In addition, there is another reason that is worried that Laos and the United States will increase sanctions on Huawei, which will affect subsequent equipment supply, maintenance and other issues.
Although Malaysia chose Ericsson this time, there is no telling that things will turn around. Based on past experience, Ericsson will "enclose the land" through low prices and then increase prices from each project when the actual construction is started. This is also an old practice. Therefore, there is reason to believe that once the project is unfinished, Huawei will inevitably be found to remedy it.
According to previous data, Huawei accounts for 11.4% of global 5G technology patents, making it the company with the most 5G patents in the world, while Ericsson accounts for 10.3%. As long as it involves 5G field projects, it cannot be avoided. Opening a business with Huawei means that you must pay patent fees to Huawei. These patent fees alone are a huge amount of income, and HiSilicon, a subsidiary of Huawei, also holds 7.2 5G patents.
Although Huawei is currently losing ground in Europe, it does not mean that the entire Europe is rejecting Huawei's 5G equipment. Monaco, Spain, Austria and Italy have all stated that they will not reject Huawei. Monaco has even completed Huawei's 5G cooperation and has played a positive role in Europe. This proves that although the United States has repeatedly obstructed it, not all countries will refuse in the face of leading technology and relatively cost-effective prices, and there are already more More and more countries can bravely stand up and say no to the United States.
Although Huawei's cooperation in Europe and even Southeast Asia is not progressing very smoothly, in Africa, Huawei can be said to be "killing all parties."
At the end of last month, French telecommunications company Orange stated that although it was unable to cooperate with Huawei in France due to the requirements of the United States, it was looking forward to in-depth cooperation with Huawei in the African market.
Last year, South African operator Rain completed cooperation with Huawei. It was also the first operator in Africa to use commercial 5G network communications. 70% of Africa's backbone networks are built by Huawei. Among the 54 countries in Africa, more than 40 countries have varying degrees of cooperation with Huawei. It can be seen that although it is difficult to open up the European battlefield, Huawei's cooperation foundation in Africa is very deep, and the African market is far from optimal and requires a lot of network construction. If Huawei works hard in Africa, Africa's market with huge potential will It will bring equal returns to Huawei.
African countries have always had close exchanges with our country, and they have thoroughly seen through the nature of Laos and the United States in the process of development. Therefore, Africa is not controlled by Laos and the United States, and Huawei can develop at will in the African market. Not only is China the largest construction country in Africa, Huawei also has large-scale construction projects in Africa. If Africa continues to cooperate with Huawei, these already built equipment will save Africa tens of billions of yuan.
Therefore, as long as Huawei operates Africa carefully as a 5G "pilot" market, once it achieves results, I believe other countries around the world will definitely see it. Huawei's technology itself is leading, and its success in Africa will inevitably lead to success. Favored by more countries. It is already very difficult to enter the European market. Huawei no longer needs to focus on Europe. Although Southeast Asian countries have some contact with the United States, they have increasingly turned to my country in recent years. Although Malaysia has not won, other countries still You can fight for it.
While Ericsson is playing tricks on price, Huawei can also bundle sales on infrastructure through my country’s infrastructure capabilities. Huawei is not only leading in 5G technology, but is also one of the best in many other communication fields in the world, such as submarine cables, optical communications, etc. These projects can also be bundled with 5G communications, and the prices can be reduced and packaged for construction in other countries. Although Huawei's costs have increased during this period, its chances of entering the markets of various countries are greater.
It is difficult for Huawei to get out of its current predicament. Although it can bloom more in various technical fields, it is still unable to cope with the suppression of powerful countries. We can only hope that the country will be stronger and can create a better external environment for our country's enterprises and protect their overseas development. Of course, forging iron requires one's own strength. Now the United States only imposes technology sanctions. In the face of China's increasing strength, it no longer dares to send random threats. Our country's enterprises still need to be like Huawei and master more core technologies. They can speak with strength and use technology. Speak, so that you can have more confidence when fighting against the United States.
Although Malaysia did not reach cooperation with Huawei as we hoped this time, we should also see that Malaysia did not consciously boycott Huawei. Because Huawei is a company after all, it inevitably has to operate under relevant framework rules. It is indeed helpless for Malaysia to modify the investment rules. However, Malaysia did not want to target Huawei and was limited by the country itself. Huawei missed the mark.
Seeing that many netizens are criticizing Malaysia online, I still hope that everyone can be more sensible. Huawei is an iconic private enterprise in our country, and each of us hopes that Huawei can break through the current predicament. But while we support Huawei, we should also give Huawei a better public opinion environment. Don't let our love for Huawei become a reason for others to discredit Huawei. Supporting Huawei does not necessarily mean belittling other companies or countries.