Huawei garners 5G strength with global orders

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd said on Tuesday that it has booked over 60 5G contracts, signaling global telecom carriers' increasing confidence in the Chinese company despite US restrictions.

Yang Chaobin, president of Huawei's 5G products, said the latest figures marked a jump from Huawei's earlier announcement of 50 contracts in September. Among the total contracts, 32 are from Europe, 11 from the Middle East, 10 from Asia-Pacific, seven from the Americas and one from Africa.

Hu Houkun, rotating chairman of Huawei, said telecom carriers have launched 40 commercial 5G networks in more than 20 countries and regions, with 136 5G devices available in the world.

"We expect that there will be more than 60 5G commercial networks by the end of this year," Hu said.

Industry insiders said the move again shows consistent confidence among overseas governments, telecom companies and consumers and also demonstrates Huawei's leading prowess in 5G despite US restrictions.

"The increasing 5G orders from global markets once again proves Huawei's technological prowess and innovation capacity in the 5G technology. It also shows its resilience amid mounting pressure," said Xiang Ligang, director-general of the telecom industry association Information Consumption Alliance.

On Monday, the world's largest telecom equipment maker announced that it has built a joint innovation center with Sunrise, the second-largest telecom carrier in Switzerland, to promote cross-sector cooperation.

The two sides have been working on leveraging 5G to boost efficiency in farming, factories and resorts.

The announcement also came after Reuters reported that Germany said it would not single out any telecom player, including Huawei, in its 5G build-out. The finalized security catalog, which is expected to be released later this week, emphasized that no single vendor would be barred from building Germany's 5G mobile network.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert also said at a news conference in Berlin on Monday that "we are not taking a preemptive decision to ban any actor, or any company". It echoed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's stance earlier this year where she said the country wouldn't exclude individual vendors while toughening the security of its mobile networks.

"If Germany excludes Huawei, they (Germany) will incur high cost as Huawei has participated in many parts of its 5G construction," said Zheng Chunrong, head of the Germany Research Institute at Tongji University in Shanghai.

According to a report by consulting firm P3, Germany has lagged behind its European neighbors when it comes to high-performance mobile network technology. Its LTE (4G) mobile phone network coverage lags behind the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland.

"Without Huawei, Germany will be far behind other leading European countries for several years," Zheng said.