It is obvious that Ericsson and Nokia, which, together with the Chinese company, controlled almost 80% of the 5G base station market, will take on the main burden on the development of 5G networks in the UK after Huawei is excluded from the list of trusted suppliers. NEC and Fujitsu both accounted for less than 1% of the market, but these Japanese companies are already in talks with the British authorities to participate in the development of local infrastructure, according to the Nikkei Asian Review. In fact, officials from the Japanese side have already joined the negotiations.

For the British side, attracting Japanese companies to the process of forming national 5G networks is beneficial because they will be able to compete with European manufacturers. It is assumed that Japanese suppliers will be able to bring the cost of their equipment closer to the Chinese – at least as far as this is possible in the existing economic realities. For Japanese manufacturers, such a deal is a chance to expand sales markets and gain a foothold in Europe. NEC representatives confirmed negotiations with the British side, and Fujitsu announced that the company has ambitions to sell its products on the European market.

The Japanese government is providing material support to national manufacturers of equipment for 5G networks – $ 654 million has been allocated to finance the development of new generation components. The ecosystem of 5G networks implies the possibility of combining equipment of different brands, which was not previously observed. It is this technical feature that gives Japanese companies hope for successful integration into the British telecommunications infrastructure. The use of Huawei equipment in the UK should be phased out by the end of 2027.