China’s Huawei pushes network gear upgrades in friendly nations, touting AI boost

Under US sanctions, the Chinese telecoms equipment giant has sharpened its focus on mobile carriers in other markets

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Huawei is pushing for telecoms network upgrades in overseas markets. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Published: 7:00pm, 5 Nov 2024

Huawei Technologies is urging telecommunications-network operators in overseas markets to upgrade their infrastructure to prepare for a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) services, as the US-sanctioned Chinese firm makes a big push to boost sales for its global carrier-equipment business.

With the US and several of its allies prohibiting the use of Huawei equipment in their communications networks, the Chinese company has sharpened its focus on mobile carriers in other markets, touting products and solutions that support AI advances.

To “meet the requirements of the mobile AI era”, telecoms service providers need to “accelerate the upgrade to full-band 5G-Advanced”, said Dang Wenshuan, Huawei’s chief strategy architect, at an Istanbul conference last week.

As more mobile AI applications begin to feature intelligent personal assistants with real-time and multimodal interactions, networks have to provide uplink speeds of 20 megabits per second and 20-millisecond latency to support such services, Fang Xiang, vice-president of Huawei Wireless Product Line, said at the Global Mobile Broadband Forum in the Turkish capital.

A Huawei booth at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai in June. Photo: AFP

While its global smartphone business has been decimated by Washington’s sanctions, Huawei’s telecoms-equipment business remains a key contributor to the company’s sales. Last year, sales of Huawei’s information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure segment grew 2.3 per cent to 362 billion yuan (US$51 billion), making up half of the company’s total revenue.