Despite the challenges it has been facing since last year, Chinese giant Huawei Technologies Co fully believes in their capability to lead the development of the fifth generation of wireless technology (5G) in Southeast Asia, according to the firm’s regional chief.
James Wu, president of Huawei Southeast Asia which covers 9 countries and 2 autonomous territories, namely Thailand, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Hong Kong, and Macao, said at the Mobile World Congress2019 (MWC19) that the firm experienced “encouraging growth” in the region last year, and would continue to digitalise people's life through leading innovations.
“Our carrier business remained stable, and our enterprise business and consumer business both grew superbly,” he said.
“In 2018, the consumer business grew by 42 per cent in the region. Last year, we also launched the Huawei Cloud service across Southeast Asia, and our Cloud data centers in Hong Kong and Thailand are now in service.”
Wu considers Southeast Asia as a great engine that connects innovation and business.
“We are trying our best to bridge the digital divide in Southeast Asia through innovation, and address telecom issues that are unique to the region. To develop the digital economy in the region, we are collaborating with partners to build a digital ecosystem,” he said.
Last year, the firm introduced its CloudAir technology to solve high costs and low utilization rate of the LTE spectrum, a move that ensured 40 per cent extra bandwidth and improved user experience. It also introduced 5G microwave in India, which doubled the spectrum efficiency of wireless transmissions.
Huawei provided digital transmission infrastructure to Thailand PEA to accelerate its drive towards digital transformation, and kicked off its first international cloud service center in Hong Kong, with another following shortly after in Thailand. The local service centers provide one-stop, full-stack cloud infrastructure to speed up the digital economy. Last year, its local procurement topped US$608 million in the region.
“We stand ready to contribute to a digital economy and intelligent vision in Southeast Asia. We are leveraging our strengths to improve talent development, ICT promotion, and disaster prevention there,” he said.
The firm developed more than 8,000 ICT talents in the region through its OpenLabs, ICT training, scholarships, competitions, and Seeds for the Future programme. Its digital training bus in Bangladesh delivered ICT knowledge to the doorsteps of women across the country, educating more than 16,200 women.
5G as key driver
Wu stressed the importance of 5G in the development of digital economy in the region.
“I believe 2019 will be a significant year for 5G in Southeast Asia. Huawei, as the world's leading vendor of 5G, will help all operators in the region realise their 5G dreams,” he said.
The firm will continue to invest in 5G, broadband, cloud, artificial intelligence and smart devices in order to help its customers maximise the benefits of emerging technology. This year, it will bring more leading chipsets and hardware and software solutions for artificial intelligence to Southeast Asia.
According to the executive, Southeast Asia will stand out with the fastest GDP growth around 5-6 per cent over the next five years, and digital economy will be the major driver behind such growth accounting for 20 per cent. 5G will bring industry opportunities worth $1.2 trillion in the region within five years.
He predicted that massive commercial use of 5G in markets such as India, Thailand and Vietnam will start as early as 2020. In the next five years, the number of 5G subscribers in the region will top 80 million. Wireless, digital and intelligent equipment will improve social productivity by 4-8 per cent on average.
“We have received invitations from multiple countries and customers across Southeast Asia to 5G trials. In Thailand alone, we have invested $5 million in 5G trials, and have the 5G-ready equipment in place [for the trail],” he said.
Wu urges the governments and telecom operators in the region to work on spectrum distribution and site preparation. He foresees large-scale commercial use of 5G in Southeast Asia by 2021.
“We welcome competition, as it leads to the most efficient investment into 5G infrastructure, and benefits the general public,” he said.
By Khine Kyaw
Myanmar Eleven
Barcelona
