Washington’s anti-China campaign has been dealt a blow, after Huawei and ZTE won deals to supply 5G infrastructure to U Mobile.

Under the deal, these vendors will enable U Mobile – which was awarded the contract to build Malaysia’s second wholesale 5G network last November – to cover 80% of the population within 12 months of commencing deployment, reaching 90% in the 12 months thereafter.

“We are honoured by the trust placed in us and we pledge to work hard to fulfil, as well as rise above and beyond, our obligations,” said Huawei Malaysia CEO Simon Sun.

“Together with U Mobile, we aim to build a bespoke 5G-A ready network, providing differentiated 5G and 5G-A experiences to people, homes and industries.”

Steven Ge, managing director of ZTE Malaysia, said “ZTE is pleased to be the technology partner of U Mobile and is honoured to play a crucial role in shaping Malaysia’s 5G landscape. This partnership continues our journey of building the nation’s telecommunications evolution – from 2G through 3G and 4G, and now into the 5G era.”

The deal is likely to ruffle a few feathers in the US which – in unison with the EU – had warned its longstanding ally of negative consequences should it allow Chinese-made equipment to be used in its 5G networks.

In all fairness though, it sounds like U Mobile wasn’t exactly spoilt for choice.

“We started this selection process last year with invitations to tender, sent out to network equipment and software provider companies from all regions. Ultimately, only two Chinese companies responded and we are delighted to work with Huawei and ZTE on this significant endeavour,” said U Mobile CTO, Woon Ooi Yuen.

Ericsson was never going to get this gig. It was chosen as the sole vendor for Malaysia’s first wholesale 5G network, Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), and the selection process was slammed by the opposition party at the time for not being sufficiently transparent.

That party is now in power, and it spearheaded the establishment of the second wholesale network to compete with DNB. It would make no sense to entrench Ericsson’s 5G monopoly, so other suppliers needed to step up instead.

Outside China, that leaves Nokia and Samsung. The latter has struggled to mount a meaningful challenge to Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei and ZTE on the world stage – its 5G networking wins have tended to revolve around emerging tech like Open RAN.

As for Nokia, it looked like a viable candidate for the new network, having been chosen by U Mobile back in 2019 to deploy RAN equipment in greenfield locations across Malaysia, extending the telco’s LTE footprint. The two also agreed to trial 5G.

In all likelihood, price probably had a big influence over U Mobile’s decision, because we all know that Huawei and ZTE are very competitive on that front.

Chances are they were the only ones to respond because they were the only ones who could make the numbers add up to U Mobile’s satisfaction, and no amount of diplomatic pressure from the US and Europe would persuade it otherwise.

U Mobile understandably says its decision came down to tech and getting the network up and running quickly.

“Apart from their global technology track record, they (Huawei and ZTE) have also [a] shared vision for an efficient and rapid rollout,” said Woon. “U Mobile is looking forward to Huawei and ZTE playing a critical role in bringing a next-gen 5G network that is enterprise-grade to Malaysians rapidly.”

As for a response from Washington or Brussels, chances are both sides of the pond are too preoccupied with the chaotic tariff situation to pay it any mind. It could come back to haunt them though if other regional allies opt to follow in Malaysia’s footsteps.