Photo: AFP

Chinese authorities have opened an anti-trust investigation into telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson, as the Swedish firm readies for competition with Chinese giant Huawei in the race to win 5G contracts.

According to Chinese state media, the country’s top anti-trust regulator conducted a raid on Ericsson’s Beijing office as part of the probe, which centers around complaints from mobile phone makers about 3G and 4G licensing.

Allegations of anti-competitive practices in the telecommunications sphere are not new to China, and the issue of foreign firms abusing market dominance came to the fore in 2013 with a high-profile case involving Qualcomm. The US firm was accused of charging unreasonably high licensing fees and subsequently forced to pay a US$1 billion fine.

That previous case and the current investigation into Ericsson focus on patents for third and fourth-generation wireless network technology, patents for which were already largely dominated by foreign firms as Chinese players came to the table.

But the new investigation comes amid the advent of 5G networks, a development that has seen Chinese giants Huawei and ZTE charge out of the gate early.

Huawei is already seen as ahead of the game in terms of patents for the next-generation wireless technology. Ericsson is one of the few non-Chinese rivals in certain areas of 5G.

The European firm could benefit from a US campaign to get allies to block Huawei equipment, but reports have indicated that the firm has been careful not to be seen as endorsing Washington’s efforts, for fear of facing retaliation in the Chinese market.

Ericsson earns a sizable chunk of its revenue, around 7%, from its business in China.

Join the Conversation

1146 Comments

  5. I am only writing to let you be aware of what a superb experience my cousin’s princess gained reading through your blog. She figured out plenty of pieces, which include what it is like to have a great helping character to let other people really easily learn about some complicated issues. You actually did more than visitors’ desires. Thank you for delivering these practical, trusted, informative and in addition cool tips about your topic to Tanya.

  8. Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!

  9. Great ?V I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your website. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs and related information ended up being truly easy to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, site theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Nice task..

  11. I would like to thnkx for the efforts you’ve put in writing this site. I’m hoping the same high-grade web site post from you in the upcoming also. Actually your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own web site now. Actually the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.

  12. Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!

  13. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?

  18. Hey! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa? My website goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel free to shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Fantastic blog by the way!