SHANGHAI: Finnish networking company Nokia has been left empty-handed, following the award of huge 5G contracts by China’s big three service providers.

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom were awarded contracts reportedly worth nearly US$10 billion. Nokia’s Swedish rival Ericsson was awarded a contract with Mobile worth about $593 million and reportedly picked up a double-digit share of a massive 5G tender.

Analysts say overall Ericsson seems to have walked off with deals worth at least $460 million.

But it was Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE that secured the majority of contracts to provide up to 250,000 5G base stations to China Telecom and China Unicom.

It’s a different story for Nokia in India, where the Fins won a multi-year deal with third-largest telecom firm Bharti Airtel to provide equipment.