Director of Public Affairs at Huawei, Chris Pereira has indicated that “5G is going to bring connectivity and competitiveness to countries who deploy 5G faster in terms of the industrial applications.”
According to him, with 5G technology, “truly full connection around the world is going to become a reality and a possibility for the first time,” and admonishes that the states that take the initial step will benefit the most.
Chris Pereira was speaking exclusively to citibusinessnews.com at the graduation ceremony of the 2019 edition of the Huawei Seeds formed and to the Future programme.
He added, “We are the only company in the world capable of delivering end to end solutions for 5G and we want to share that with the world.”
With internet connectivity in Africa limited by low levels of computer literacy, poor infrastructure and high costs of internet, Chris believes the company’s rural innovations can bridge the gap.
“We (Huawei) connect them through solutions such as rural star, which is a solution which brings affordable internet to smaller communities in Africa.”
Background
The global technology race appears unrelenting. According to 2018 European Commission Industrial R&D Investment Ranking, the top 4 technology companies, Samsung, Alphabet (parent company of Google) Microsoft, Intel, Apple and Huawei were responsible spending in excess of $70.7bn in research and development, alone. It is no wonder majority of the world’s leading consumer electronics and enterprise solutions come from these companies.
The competition remains fierce among them. A common thread, however, is the mission to expand the frontiers of communications across the globe to ensure increased market share and profits. One of the major cornerstones of this mission is the deployment of 5G technology on a global scale.
Those battle lines were made even more prominent in May 2019 when President Trump placed Chinese technology company Huawei on the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security List. This barred Huawei from US communications networks. At the heart of this was the race for 5G technology deployment.
Huawei was blocked by Google from future access to Android updates, UK-based chip designer ARM ceased all activities with the brand, and multiple retailers and networks around the world had to stop dealing with Huawei for fear of sanctions from the US government.
In July 2019 however, President Trump lifted the ban.
The technology company, despite this, has deployed with the major carriers in Mexico and Monaco and has signed 50 contracts worldwide, including with 28 European operators, for 5G.
Major U.K. carriers have built their 5G networks with the help from Huawei with six of the seven cities in the U.K. where Vodafone has launched its 5G service.