Huawei’s 5G RAN portfolio has been ranked no.1 in a Competitive Landscape Assessment (CLA) of the 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) infrastructure conducted by GlobalData.

The report evaluates the 5G mobile base station portfolios of five key vendors: Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Samsung and ZTE.

The analysis is based on the criteria important to mobile operators including: baseband unit capacity, radio unit portfolio, installation ease and technology evolution, GlobalData said.

Huawei holds the strongest position overall, with leading claims in all four criteria categories, including superior baseband unit capacity and radio unit portfolio breadth, the report said.

Ericsson’s greatest strengths lie in solutions for easing radio installation, such as its Street Macro and Vault Radio offerings, an area in which the vendor holds a leading position.

Nokia is strongest in its radio unit portfolio, whose breadth of options and compact form factors helped the vendor earn a rating of leader in the radio portfolio category of GlobalData’s analysis.

“The 5G RAN market is extremely competitive in these early stages,” said Ed Gubbins, principal analyst at GlobalData. “Operators’ decisions today will direct the next decade of global telecom investment and ultimately usher in fundamental changes to the way we live and work in the 5G era.”

The report also reveals that although Internet-of-Things (IOT) use cases will be a major driver of 5G infrastructure going forward, in the very near term, 5G decisions are being guided largely by enhanced mobile broadband services.

The vendor landscape is changing rapidly, as Gubbins explains: “The first wave of 5G RAN equipment, called ‘non-standalone 5G’ relies on existing 4G LTE infrastructure for some functions. So in the race to win 5G deals with operators, each vendor has a strong advantage with operators that already use their 4G gear.”

“Standalone 5G, which requires a 5G core, will give vendors a better chance to penetrate new operator accounts and grow their global market share. We expect the standalone 5G RAN market to start ramping up in 2020,” he added.