The telco sees plenty of opportunities ranging from deploying mobile networks in rural areas to providing smart city solutions

by S BIRRUNTHA / pic by BLOOMBERG

HUAWEI Technologies Co Ltd is aiming to be a key contributor to South-East Asia’s digital transformation journey, according to its rotating chairman Guo Ping.

The smartphone and telecommunication company’s (telco) Asia Pacific market, which refers to the region outside China, recorded a revenue of 53.68 billion yuan (RM35.43 billion) in 2021 against 64.47 billion yuan in 2020.

Guo said in that region, Huawei’s carrier business maintained robust performance alongside accelerated 5G network rollouts and adoption across industries.

He added that Huawei’s enterprise business enjoyed healthy growth as companies stepped up efforts to go digital.

“Our consumer business continued to innovate and saw rapid growth in the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystem.

“We achieved solid progress in delivering an intelligent experience across all consumer scenarios,” he said while presenting the 2021 annual report at a live streamed event from Huawei’s Shenzhen headquarters recently.

Guo also described that SouthEast Asia and the broader Asia Pacific region, which is undergoing a rapid digital transformation journey, as a “very important strategic market” for Huawei.

He said the company has observed plenty of opportunities ranging from deploying mobile networks in rural areas to providing smart city solutions for upcoming projects such as in Indonesia’s new capital.

“We are in Asia Pacific, for Asia Pacific. We hope Huawei can be a key contributor to South-East Asia’s digital transformation journey,” he noted.

On outlook, Huawei Asia Pacific president Simon Lin said Huawei’s business strategy focuses on connectivity and computing, and developing new businesses that include digital energy and cloud.

He highlighted that Huawei’s carrier business continues to benefit from 5G network infrastructure construction and remains robust, with 13 overseas countries having the best experience of Huawei’s 5G network in third-party tests.

“Overseas, along with our operators and partners, we promoted 3,000 5G applications, including many applications for industry commercialisation.

“We will keep leveraging more than 3,000 5GtoB projects to support industry transformation for smart mining, smart manufacturing and smart ports, helping operators launch 5GtoB services more successfully,” he said in a separate statement.

The 5GtoB project is Huawei’s resilient communications networks solution.

According to Lin, Huawei’s enterprise business, established in 2011, already includes more than half of the top Fortune Global 500 companies and over 30,000 partners, helping various industries transform including education, government, finance, energy, transportation and more.

He said cumulative shipments of smart wear devices now exceed 100 million worldwide, driving the company’s consumer business and expanding more into scenario-based and ecosystem-based development to deliver a truly unmatched experience.

He added that Huawei’s Harmony operating system has surpassed 220 million users globally and Asia Pacific continues to lead with the rapid development of its consumer HMS ecosystem.

Meanwhile, he said the company’s Cloud and Digital Energy businesses achieved double-digit growth in part due to a community of over eight million Huawei Cloud developers and green sites deployed in more than 100 countries worldwide.

“Going forward, Huawei will adapt to this new environment with an optimised organisational structure and continuously improve our operating capabilities.

“Huawei has both the capabilities and confidence to continue serving our customers with innovative, business-aligned, sustainable solutions,” he said.

Lin also emphasised that Huawei continues to be guided by its commitment to innovation, openness, collaboration and shared success.

He noted that the company leverages its strong investment in research and development, and drives the implementation of its globalisation strategy that includes standards, talent and supply chain.

Commenting further, Lin said Asia Pacific is set as the top fast growing economy group to the forefront of the global digital landscape, being one of the most populous and diverse regions in the world.

“We have seen that many countries in the region have released their national digitalisation strategies.

“For example, Singapore released its Smart Nation 2025 blueprint while Indonesia and Malaysia released strategies to go digital, Bangladesh released its Digital Bangladesh strategy and Thailand announced its vision to become a digital hub in Asean.

“In this great journey, we are committed to supporting the region’s digital vision as a key contributor,” he added.

Lin said towards this goal, Huawei will focus on three key areas, namely connectivity and intelligence, low-carbon development and digital inclusion initiatives.

He noted that digital connectivity, including 4G, 5G, fibre and Internet of Things is fundamental to the success of the digital economy and has been further accelerated by Covid-19 with the demand from digital subscribers and for digital services growing significantly.

“Huawei plays a role in this area, not only in product and solution, but in fundamental theory research and industrial design as well.

“Cloud computing and Intelligence is the cloud infrastructure for an intelligent Asia Pacific, including data centres, cloud services and artificial intelligence enablement to support data monetisation and promote industry digitalisation,” he said.

Huawei Cloud was the fastest growing cloud in the global Infrastructure as a Service market with a growth rate of more than 220%, according to Gartner Inc’s latest report.

Lin added that as they shift gears from Covid-19 being a great disruptor to focusing on new opportunities for digital transformation, the company is re-energised with the possibilities for its digital future.

In 2022, he said Huawei’s vision and mission continues, that is to bring digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world.

“This year with Mobile World Congress 2022 now behind us, I can think of no better opportunity to re-emphasis this vision and extend it to our view for the future world of 2030.

“Looking into 2030, Huawei is predicting various indicators across four broad areas that include digital life, digital industries, digital infrastructure and digital carriers,” he noted.

According to the Asian Economic Integration Report 2021, Asia Pacific would reap an economic dividend of more than US$1.7 trillion (RM7.14 trillion) yearly or more than US$8.6 trillion by 2025.

The increased use of digital technologies will result in about 65 million new jobs created yearly in the region until 2025.

Lin said Asia-Pacific is ripe with opportunities for digital transformation, and the pandemic has accelerated it.

He added that Huawei’s unwavering business strategy, focused on connectivity and computing and rapidly developing new businesses including digital power and cloud, is perfectly aligned to drive the digital economy in Asia Pacific.