Vodafone once referred to the Samsung equipment testing area with less than 20 base stations in Devon as the “golden cluster”, and originally planned to expand it to about 2500 sites previously served by Huawei after successful testing. However, this pilot did not bring localization value. In a dramatic reversal, Vodafone Three ultimately chose Ericsson and Nokia as suppliers for its 17000 site 5G deployment phase. This move is a blow to Samsung and its advocacy for open wireless access network technology, and may also lead the UK RAN supplier market back to a duopoly pattern.

After the merger between Vodafone and Three this year, the two companies have committed to investing £ 11 billion over ten years to build an independent 5G network. As a key step, they will invest at least £ 2 billion to implement network deployment by Ericsson and Nokia, with some work involving the replacement of Huawei equipment.

Despite Samsung’s setbacks in the UK, Vodafone Group has listed it as the biggest winner in the Spring 6 network tender covering tens of thousands of sites in Europe and Africa. The latest news states that Samsung will be responsible for deploying “thousands” of new sites to achieve network densification. A Samsung spokesperson stated via email, “While we respect Vodafone Three’s decision to strengthen our existing supplier relationships, this transformation presents a significant opportunity for us to expand our European business as a key supplier for Vodafone Spring 6.”

It is currently unclear why Vodafone, which holds a 51% stake in Vodafone hree, has abandoned Samsung in the UK market. The company originally used the UK as a testing ground for Samsung’s virtualization open RAN technology, adopting a solution based on Intel Universal chips and Dell servers, and successfully achieved the integration of Samsung RAN software with Japanese NEC wireless units. Vodafone has praised this technology and plans to adopt the same solution in Spring 6 deployment.

According to the announcement, Ericsson will be responsible for approximately 10000 RAN sites, Nokia will be responsible for approximately 7000, and the technical solutions for the remaining approximately 9000 sites are not yet clear. Before the merger, 56% of Vodafone’s sites used Ericsson equipment and 32% used Huawei; Three has previously selected Nokia, Samsung, and Huawei as suppliers. Currently, VodafoneThree plans to optimize the total number of sites to 26000.

In terms of core network, Vodafone True will mainly adopt Ericsson’s 5G core network technology, with Nokia responsible for some voice services. Iain Milligan, Chief Network Officer of Three, previously expected to complete the transition to Ericsson within a year.

The industry believes that this move is Vodafone’s retreat from its open RAN stance. The company was once a major advocate for open RAN in Europe, and its Chief Network Officer Andrea Dona emphasized the need to introduce Samsung as an “alternative” last year. With Huawei’s complete withdrawal in 2027, the UK may form a dual monopoly pattern of Nordic suppliers – other UK operators BT and Virgin Media O2 also rely on Ericsson and Nokia.

The Spring 6 tender began six years ago, initially covering 100000 sites, and expanded to 170000 sites when it was restarted last year. However, Vodafone has successively withdrawn from the Spanish, Italian, and Hungarian markets, and currently the bidding scope is limited to seven markets including Albania, Czech Republic, and Germany. According to data from Strand Consulting, Huawei still holds a 100% share in Vodafone networks in the Czech Republic, Greece, and Romania, with 55% of German sites using Huawei equipment.

Analysis indicates that, with unchanged capital expenditure budget (last year’s capital intensity was 18.3%), Vodafone finds it difficult to achieve network densification through the construction of new sites. Without actual investment support, the development prospects of Spring 6 and open RAN will be even more uncertain.