Ericsson came out on top of Huawei and Nokia in Gartner’s latest magic quadrant for 5G network infrastructure and communications service providers. The Swedish vendor earned the highest marks for its ability to execute and landed just slightly behind Huawei on Gartner’s completeness of vision grade. 

The three largest radio access network (RAN) vendors — Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia — were all, unsurprisingly, placed in the leader quadrant. Samsung, ZTE, and NEC earned visionary recognition by Gartner, and the firm’s grouping of “niche players” included Cisco, Fujitsu, Mavenir, and FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies. 

Six of the 10 companies are based in Asia, two are based in the Nordics, and two are based in the U.S.

Gartner commended Ericsson for its leadership in 5G, including improvements in dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) and its Uplink Booster technology, which contributed to its “first-mover advantage.” The firm also noted that Ericsson’s RAN equipment dating back to 2015 can be upgraded to 5G New Radio (NR) capability via software update, a distinction and flexibility that allowed its customers to deploy 5G networks earlier than competitors.

Ericsson does, however, have a narrower radio unit portfolio and slower feature support than some of its competitors, according to Gartner. The analysts also knocked Ericsson for lacking flexibility in some cases and effectively forcing some operators to align priorities and plans to Ericsson’s features.

Huawei, Nokia Face Unique Challenges

Huawei, the world’s largest RAN vendor, earned high marks from Gartner for investing heavily in 5G research and development since 2019, and being a leading contributor of 5G basic patents. The Chinese vendor also offers operators “more scale and breadth in its 5G-related portfolio.”

Of course, increased tension between the U.S. and China and ongoing “security concerns about Chinese vendors’ products in certain regions and countries” may impact Huawei’s ability to land new 5G contracts, Gartner explained. The analysts also noted that Huawei could encounter chip shortages due to geopolitical tensions, and said its lack of interest in virtualized or open RAN could limit its strategy down the line.

Nokia, the third leader in the mix, is also one of the market leaders in inking 5G commercial contracts, according to Gartner. Moreover, it added that the Finnish vendor’s “early commitment to vRAN, cloud RAN, and open RAN succeeds in differentiating it from other incumbent RAN vendors,” and that has provided the company with “some level of thought leadership.”

The company is still, however, confronting challenges due to the delay of its latest chipset for 5G radios, basebands, and massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, according to Gartner. “While Nokia has selected multiple vendors such as Broadcom, Intel, and Marvell to resolve the issue, communications service providers should be sensitive about its chipset development, delivery, and product integration,” the analysts wrote.

Perhaps even more worrisome for Nokia is that “several [operators] have noted that Nokia’s 5G product and service are not as good as other competitors, including its performance and responsiveness. Nokia’s product quality, software stability, bug fix services, and schedule adherence need to be further improved,” Gartner analysts wrote in the report. 

Gartner Taps Samsung, ZTE, NEC as ‘Visionaries’

Samsung earned praise from Gartner for driving advanced features in millimeter-wave (mmWave) radios, in-house chipsets, and vRAN. ZTE’s 5G portfolio was described as strong with many innovative technologies and features, but the analysts warned the company is still suffering negative impacts from U.S. sanctions, especially in markets outside of China. 

NEC, the third vendor to earn visionary status from Gartner, was commended for establishing a strong position in large-scale 5G deployments in Japan and attracting interest in its open RAN offering outside of its home market.

Niche 5G Players

Cisco, which Gartner ranked the highest among niche vendors, got high marks for its financial viability and a strong ecosystem it’s developing in open RAN, but it was knocked for lacking macro or micro radios and a perception that it “is still principally an enterprise player.” 

Fujitsu earned recognition for its proactive and growing participation in open RAN, especially 5G radios, but Gartner warned that a major reorganization could negatively impact its business support and continuity. 

Mavenir is “one of the major new entrants in open RAN” with a first-mover advantage, but Gartner explained that Mavenir needs to do more to achieve multi-vendor integration and the analysts questioned the commercial viability and performance of pure software vRAN on a commercial-off-the-shelf server for 5G.

Finally, FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies has a “leading position” in optical communications and network transport slicing in the Chinese market, however it does not have a comprehensive 5G portfolio and it lacks a strong global expansion strategy or awareness outside of China, according to Gartner.