HumanIPO caught up with Li Dafeng, regional president of Huawei East and Southern Africa of global ICT solutions provider Huawei, to discuss its current and future operations on the continent.
HumanIPO: In your view what is the success rate for Huawei in Africa?
Dafeng: It is difficult to rate the success, but Huawei is definitely successful in the region. For the last 15 years, Huawei has continued to enrich the lives of Africans by delivering innovative, affordable, and customized ICT products and solutions that are able to meet the dynamic needs of our customers and end-users across the region.
Our commitment is not only to help build and service Africa’s ICT ecosystem, but to also contribute to the region’s long-term ICT development through local partnerships, continued investments, knowledge transfers, and by fostering local innovation and talent.
Are there any service/devices you are aiming to launch in Africa?
For devices, we will continue to target the entry level smartphone space with highly competitive products which offer value for money.
We will also be bringing in a range of innovative middle- to high-end smartphones in order to show consumers that we have the ability to offer dynamic products.
Mobile broadband sees us focusing on LTE and once again, our innovation by offering CAT 4 products to consumers.
As a company that mainly targets the low income bracket of smartphone users what are some of the new strategies given the surge of new players in the same segment, for example Firefox and Nokia?
From a device perspective, we are still finding out what works and what doesn’t, however we are looking to establish our share of the smartphone market as well as maintain our share in tablets, home convergence and mobile broadband where we are among the leaders.
This year will see us innovating within the design and hardware space with some exciting releases on the way in the second half of the year.
We are also targeting new areas of the market so it is hard to identify key trends at this point, however the design is ranked as the second most important factor which influences consumers purchasing trends.
What is Huawei’s role in enhancing broadband connection especially to developing countries?
The growing demand for broadband and the uneven development between urban and rural areas are of particular concern to Africa, especially in developing African countries. Bridging the digital divide is a strategy and long-term goal of Huawei.
Huawei is working continuously to improve broadband construction in Eastern and Southern Africa, especially that of the remote mountainous areas.
We are providing high-speed wireless long term evolution (LTE) networks and 100G metropolitan optical networks in countries like South Africa and Angola. We are also deploying wireless networks that cover the remote mountainous areas in Mozambique, DR Congo, and Angola.
How is Huawei investing in innovation in Africa and which incubation hubs have the company partnered with?
Currently the company is promoting its knowledge transfer agenda in ESA through the, Telecom Seed for the Future initiative in partnerships with universities so far in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Huawei has held two Android applications software challenges in Kenya and Uganda that saw 10 applications developed. The knowledge transfer is facilitated through Huawei telecom training centers in Kenya, South Africa, DRC, and Angola. One regional R&D center for software is based in South Africa.
Last year, Huawei Enterprise appointed ICT Worx as first South Africa training partner. This solidifies Huawei’s ICT training and certification program in the region while also realizing Huawei’s vision of leading ICT technical certification and nurturing ICT talent for the future.
Lastly, Huawei is currently supporting the establishment of LTE lab in University of Pretoria in South Africa to promote innovation.
In light of digital migration how is Huawei involved and should we expect the company to play more role in this in the future?
As you might be aware, there is a global 2015 deadline for digital migration set by the ITU. As a leading global ICT solutions provider, Huawei will definitely continue using its expertise and global experience to support digital migration which is a global necessity.
In Africa, Huawei is currently involved in a digital migration project in Namibia, and has in the past supported similar projects in Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique among other countries.
Overall what market share does Huawei have in Africa and which is its largest market?
While that specific information is not available, what we can say is that Huawei continued to grow and consolidate its market presence globally in 2012, and Africa was no exception.
Global sales revenues reached US$35.35 billion in 2012, an 8 per cent year-on-year increase, with a net profit of US$2.47 billion, a 33 per cent increase from the previous year.
South Africa for example is one of the most important markets for Huawei in ESA region, contributing more than 35 per cent in terms of revenue.
For our devices, we have had incredible success in the Kenya market on our entry level smartphones such as IDEOS, Ascend and Huawei4Afrika, whereas in South Africa we have experienced a far different consumer characteristic which has favoured our tablets and middle level smartphones.
