The Chinese vendor took second place from NSN in 2010 and has maintained the position since then, according to research firm Dell'Oro.
Kenneth Wirth, NSN’s head of customer operations for the Americas, told Reuters that the company should be able to take the number two position from Huawei and keep it next year as a result of new contracts won.
He cited 64 contracts that NSN had won to supply mobile operators with equipment to upgrade to 4G services.
It is estimated that NSN had 18.1% market share in the wireless equipment market in the second quarter, 5.2% behind Huawei’s 22.3%. Ericsson leads the market at 35.5% market share and Alcatel-Lucent stands fourth with 14% share, according to Dell'Oro.
NSN has engaged in a large-scale restructuring this year in a bid to improve profitability, including the sale of its wired networks division and the laying off of 10,000 workers.
As a result the vendor is now expecting to generate cash and be in a better position to attract customers.
Wirth told Reuters that NSN had won business in the fast growing Latin American market and was also supplying Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile in the US with equipment for large-scale network upgrade projects.
