Huawei’s records clean

Huawei Rotating Chairman Ken Hu yesterday brushed aside security allegations raised against the company as “groundless speculations” stating that it is best “to let facts speak for themselves”. Emphasizing repeatedly that the company’s security record was clean, Hu noted that there have been no serious cybersecurity incidents in 30 years.

During a press conference with leading global media at the company’s new campus in Dongguan on Tuesday, Hu said that some security concerns based on the technology for 5G were very legitimate, “but able to be clarified or mitigated through collaboration with operators and governments.” He, however, refrained from answering questions about Huawei’s CFO, Ms Meng Wanzhou. Hu said he was unable to comment due to legal processes underway, but he did express that business operations were not being impacted by this event.

“Rare cases”, Hu said, have arisen where some countries are using 5G issues as an excuse for groundless speculation based on “ideological or geopolitical considerations”. Security concerns disingenuously raised as excuses to block market competition would slow adoption of new technology, increase costs for network deployment, and raise prices for consumers. Hu emphasized that Security is Huawei’s highest priority and it overarches everything.

5G: 25 contracts signed

On 5G, Hu mentioned that Huawei has secured 25 commercial contracts, ranking number one among all ICT equipment providers, having already shipped more than 10,000 base stations to markets around the world. Almost all network customers have indicated they want Huawei, which is currently the market leader with the best equipment and will remain so for at least the next 12 to 18 months, for faster and more cost-effective upgrades to 5G. Regarding often-quoted concerns over Chinese law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China had formally clarified that no law requires companies to install mandatory backdoors. “We will continue to increase our investment on security and security related technologies. In our most recent board meeting, we decided on a companywide transformation program to improve our software engineering capabilities. The company will invest an initial special budget of $2 billion US dollars in the next five years to comprehensively improve our software engineering capabilities so our products will be better prepared for the future world” Hu added.

US$100 billion revenue

Looking ahead, Hu said Huawei expects to record revenues exceeding US$100 billion for 2018 citing the trust of hundreds of network operators, nearly half of the world’s Fortune 500 companies, and hundreds of millions of consumers.