- SNS Telecom & IT told Fierce that Huawei has supplied the limited private networking gear in Venezuela so far
- PDVSA has deployed a 4G LTE private network for its oil and gas production site
- Ericsson is working internally to find locations that may be suitable for industrial updates
After the U.S. attacked Venezuela on January 3rd to nab President Nicolás Maduro and take control of the country, Venezuela's suppliers of telecom infrastructure — for both public and private networking — may come under increased scrutiny from American leadership.
Indeed, Venezuela has used Huawei and ZTE for its public macro infrastructure. The country started installing 4G macro equipment in 2017, and hasn’t deployed 5G for public networks yet. Similarly, Huawei has been used in the limited private networks installed so far. And, like the country's public networks, everything is using 4G LTE gear.
Today, Venezuela's national oil company appears to be the only enterprise in the country using a private network.
“State-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela) has deployed private cellular infrastructure for critical communications at its production and exploration sites,” SNS Telecom & IT 5G research director told Fierce.
Khan noted that the country's VEN 911/SIMA — Integrated Monitoring & Assistance System — for video surveillance and emergency response communications relies on a private LTE network to wirelessly connect cameras in locations where wireline links are not feasible. “A limited number of mobile terminals are also being used,” he said.
A market ripe for opportunity
Western vendors like Ericsson are looking at possibly supplanting their Chinese rivals in the Venezuelan telecom infrastructure place, if the country starts to replace its infrastructure with more modern 5G public macro and private networking infrastructure. This is very much up in the air at the moment though.
Former FCC commissioner and current director of policy and strategy for Ericsson Federal Technologies business, Nathan Simington, told Fierce Network recently that Ericsson is working internally to determine the top population centers and major industrial locations that would be suitable for updates.
It will take a while to see if or when anything will happen though. “I don't think anyone's working with the United States government yet,” said Simington. “I mean, you know, it's been two weeks.”
However, Venezuela could potentially become an inflection point in the possible geopolitical reordering of global telecom depending on what actually happens in the medium- and long-term.
“When security, intelligence, sanctions relief, and reconstruction are on the table, networks stop being commercial assets and become conditions,” managing director of telecom software company Circles Sebastian Barros noted on LinkedIn.