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Huawei expects to see a whole range of 5G opportunities in Europe over the near to mid-term, according to the company’s founder
Huawei is looking forward to a swathe of new opportunities across Europe, as it looks to move on from its blacklisting in the US, according to the company’s founder, Ren Zhengfei.
Zhengfei took part in a live interview with a panel of international journalists in Shenzhen last week and spoke of his optimism for the company’s international and domestic prospects.
"Europe still presents Huawei with a wide scale of opportunities. Actually, we still see many opportunities all around the world. I think many people are quite tolerant of us, and that makes me happy. After all, we cannot expect everyone to understand us, at least not within a short period of time.
As China prepares for its own, epic 5G rollout in the first quarter of 2020, the domestic market will also be crucially important for Huawei in the short to mid-term. Zhengfei said that he expects levels of trust between the international community and China to grow as the country proceeds with its next generation network rollout.
"China used to be very poor and lag behind the rest of the world. People thought that China would never catch up. However, China turned out to be a crazy sprinter, able to catch up with everyone else. It’s just like a train, which eventually runs faster than carriages. When new things are discovered, people don’t trust them, but I think eventually the trust will grow," he said.
The company’s president of corporate strategy, Zhang Wenlin, echoed Zhengfei’s sentiments, saying that 5G would remain a key part of Huawei’s portfolio.
"For what we see about distrust, I think that was caused by a lack of knowledge about 5G and the industry. For those that have a sufficient knowledge of 5G and the industry, such as telecom carriers, industry partners, and the governments of countries seeking economic and industrial development, they generally trust us. That’s why our 5G business is developing very well despite all the noise and obstacles," he said.
Huawei has so far announced more than 60 5G launch deals, with operators across Europe and Asia, playing a key role in launches in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.
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