Editor's note: Wang Yang is co-founder and chief marketing officer of TOP Network, a Silicon Valley-based tech firm developing a business-friendly public blockchain and the world's first blockchain-based cloud communication network. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

On June 15, Vodafone Espana in cooperation with Huawei rolled out 5G networks in 15 Spanish cities, making Spain one of the first countries in Europe to introduce commercial 5G networks into their mobile communications infrastructure.

Vodafone and Huawei have been doing business for over 10 years, and according to Vodafone Espana, both parties have been preparing for this launch for quite some time.

Huawei is a major supplier of telecom equipment to Europe, with a large portion of Europe's core communications infrastructure consisting of Huawei components.

Many European companies, including Vodafone, have had long-standing relationships with Huawei, and are now planning on using Huawei's 5G hardware in their next-gen mobile networks.

Huawei's market dominance in Europe comes at a surprise to many, as its counterparts—Ericsson and Nokia—are based out of Europe. In specific, almost all European countries with 5G ambitions are set on cooperating with Huawei to build out their 5G networks. The reasons being that Huawei is far ahead of its competitors in terms of 5G technology while also providing the most competitive pricing out of all the 5G equipment suppliers, making Huawei the clear choice.

Like many places around the world, Spain and other European countries are hopeful that 5G will bring about positive changes to their economies. The first countries to implement 5G networks could gain significant advantages, allowing for increased innovation, and the creation of new high-tech industries such as autonomous driving vehicles, the so-called Internet of Things, and much more.

The massive potential for industry and job creation presented by 5G puts an increased urgency for countries to be first in the race to roll out commercial 5G networks. As Huawei is so far ahead of its competitors with respect to 5G technology, the Chinese Telecom giant is primed to take a large share of the European 5G market.

The Vodafone launch of Huawei-based 5G networks in Spain comes just prior to a surprise decision by the U.S. government to reverse its blacklisting of Huawei. There could be many reasons for the sudden change in policy, although the likely reasoning is that the ban was hurting U.S. suppliers.

Previously, the U.S. had been pressuring its allies to ban the use of Huawei equipment in their 5G networks, citing security risks as the reasoning. However, these claims were met with skepticism from most European countries, which is corroborated by Spain's decision to carry on with their 5G plans.

A ban on Huawei would have put a major damper on Europe's 5G ambitions, potentially causing multi-year setbacks. Now that the U.S. government is loosening their stance on Huawei, the 5G rollout can continue unabated, which is positive for both Europe and Huawei.

The Vodafone Espana launch of 5G networks in collaboration with Huawei could also give confidence to other European countries that may have been shaken by the previous decisions of the U.S. government. Furthermore—as Vodafone is a multinational corporation—the rollout of Huawei based 5G networks in Spain means they are likely to do so in other European countries as well.

Along with the Huawei ban's reversal, this could be a sign that the U.S. will end its ambitions to convince European countries to leave Huawei out of their 5G networks, which would be a major win for the telecom giant. While Huawei is not dependent on Europe, it is their biggest market outside of China. The loss of the European market would have been a blow for Huawei, although it now looks like the tides are turning in their favor.

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