On Call

How has Huawei positioned itself in line with the UAE’s needs?

Historically, Huawei positioned itself as a telecom solutions provider, but with the advancement of technology, our role has changed greatly to provide complete ICT solutions. Communications is not just for the telecom industry. ICT, digitalization and smart strategies are at the top of the agenda of governments around the world today. In response to this, Huawei has expanded its solutions to cover a wide range of industries as well as consumer needs. The ICT industry has become diversified and communications have become a basic human right, like electricity and water, and this evolution has had a dramatic impact on industries and economies. It has created enormous opportunities for business growth that is un-paralleled in modern history, and this is just the beginning of a new era. In the UAE, Huawei has realigned its business to support the country’s efforts in creating a knowledge-based economy, one that is driven by the digital transformation is a main component of the UAE’s national strategy. Huawei is committed to helping bridge the digital divide in UAE through four key areas: providing communications for all, broadband for all, nurturing ICT talent, and the application of ICT technologies to help different industries boost efficiency.

How does Huawei’s technology streamline business operations?

As a global technology leader, Huawei is committed to helping customers achieve their business goals and sometimes that includes improving operational efficiency and reducing operational costs to streamline their businesses. As any enterprise organization would, Huawei looks to its technology infrastructure to ensure optimal efficiency while also ensuring that its resources are full utilized without waste and without adding a burden to the infrastructure. Leveraging ICT capability correctly provides the infrastructure needed to streamline traditional industries and drive business efficiency. There are three main steps that can be taken to achieve this. The first step is digitalization and the second is automation, by which we mean sensors giving feedback that generates actions. The third and final step is intelligence, where the technology can make changes or take decisions based on changes to the environment. For example, it can automatically adjust the temperature of a room depending on whether or not it is occupied. Utilizing these three steps enables companies to locate inefficiencies and eliminate them.

How much opportunity does the PPP space present for Huawei?

Huawei has multiple models for working with customers and partners. Our vision for the future is that, if everything is connected by the Internet and cloud computing is in place, big data can generate more ways for us to manage cities safety. Security will come through digitalization, intelligence, and automation. We are not ready to step into being a service provider and will never be a competitor of our clients. We want to continue collaboration with academia to jointly develop customized solutions for our customers. Masdar Institute is the top post-graduate institution in the country, and we are in discussion with them on the LT platform. We will work to generate green technology, space technology, and IoT technology to explore how IoT could serve the oil and gas industries. Together we will customize the IoT technology to accommodate clients like ADNOC. Huawei is mainly focused on infrastructure and we do not provide smart services and therefore need to work with partners that are welcome to come to our open lab to test and open their products so that we can go to market together.

How much does Huawei invest in R&D?

“As of December 31, 2016, Huawei’s had about 180,000 employees of which 45%, or about 80,000 employees, are specialized in research and development. In 2016 we spent USD9.2 billion on R&D and in 2017, we expect that figure to rise to USD12 billion. We focus on very narrow areas, the first being devices such as smartphones, sensors and chips, the second being pipes; the fixed and wireless broadband through 3G, 4G, and 5G to the fiber. The third area is cloud computing-related technologies, which includes big data. These three areas make up the major part of our infrastructure but if you are a consumer you do not care about bandwidth or the technical terms such as 4G or 5G; what you need is user experience. When you promote bandwidth a lot of people cannot figure out what the benefit of 100mb is; so who cuts the gap is the application providers. With 100mb you can enjoy the full key, HD video and this makes a difference, not the 100mb but the fact that you can enjoy a VR experience without negative experiences. We attach equal importance to innovations made by scientists and engineers, and base innovation on customer needs and technological leadership. We attach equal importance to innovating applications, products and basic technologies, and invest in researching future-oriented cutting-edge technologies. As of December 31, 2016, Huawei has filed a total of 57,632 patent applications in China and 39,613 patent applications outside of China. A total of 62,519 patent applications have been granted. Globally, Huawei has 12 Regional Headquarters, 15 R&D institute and centers, 36 joint innovation centers and 45 training centers. Products and solutions are applied in over 170 countries and regions worldwide. That makes a difference and brings up the topic of the ecosystem and how we need to work with the local companies and SMEs who could translate the infrastructure value into the customer’s user experience. Huawei believes in open, collaborative relationships with local companies and SMEs who have the right ideas and a potential market which can provide value to the end users. They are welcome to come to our Open Lab to test their products and we are happy to go to market together with them. We work closely with our customers and partners to build a better connected world, by connecting people, people and things, and things and things. Doing so facilitates the free flow and sharing of ideas. We will drive the evolution of technologies, industries, and human interaction to build a better connected world.