9 thoughts on “Huawei launches “5G Power Solution” for global wireless telcos”

1. Wonder if Huawei’s 5G Power Solution will be deployed in India’s 5G use case trials, where the company has been invited to participate in 5G trials after the government had previously said it was being excluded from same.

   Huawei India CEO Jay Chen told India’s Economic Times that the company has received an invitation after approaching the government to express an interest in taking part. India’s telecom ministry’s earlier decision to exclude Huawei and ZTE from the list of vendors approached to take part in the trials led to speculation that India could follow Australia and the US in preventing Chinese vendors from participating in their respective nation’s 5G rollouts.

   But after Huawei expressed an interest in participating in the trials, the telecoms ministry announced that it will evaluate the vendor’s proposal and consider including Huawei in the planned 5G field trials.

   According to Huawei’s Chen, Huawei has a collaborative relationship with the Indian government and has already been working with various Indian operators in laying the groundwork for 5G deployments.

   1. Media reports now say that Huawei will conduct 5G tests in two Indian cities, including New Delhi. It will also work with app developers and academic institutions on the development of India-specific 5G services, according to those reports.
      The initial invitation to the vendors was based on the recommendation of a high-level 5G panel set up by India’s government. Heading that panel was Arogyaswami Paulraj, a professor of engineering at Stanford University. Approached by Light Reading, and asked why Huawei was excluded from the 5G project, Paulraj said in an emailed response: “The government of India decides which original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are invited and when so, for trials. I am not in the government and not involved in such matters.”

      India’s government believes 5G could provide a huge boost to the country’s economy. It is especially keen on developing services for agriculture, manufacturing and the social sector. For that reason, authorities are taking steps to ensure India will be in a position to roll out 5G commercially by 2020.

      Globally, both Huawei and ZTE have been barred from participating in the 5G market in Australia. Major US service providers have been warned off using the Chinese vendors ever since they were labeled a security risk in a 2012 government report.

      https://www.lightreading.com/mobile/5g/huawei-(finally!)-gets-5g-invite-from-india/d/d-id/746711?_mc=RSS_LR_EDT

      1. Profitability is a challenge in India but Huawei will continue investments there

         Though business is picking up, driven by its handset and enterprise segments, China’s telecom equipment maker Huawei said profitability is a challenge in the Indian market in the midst of an industry consolidation.

         Jay Chen, chief executive at Huawei India, told ET his company will continue to invest in India where surviving telcos need to expand capacity to cater to surging demand for data. He added that a recent the government notification making local sourcing of 36 telecom products compulsory for all centrally sponsored schemes under the preferential market access (PMA) scheme would impact all equipment makers.

         “Profitability issue is an open issue and is a general challenge in the Indian market. The industry is struggling and it is passing on the pressure,” Chen said. “We understand that this is the time for investment, not for the short-term profit.”

         However, from January to September 2018, the company’s revenue from the telecom business, including wireless, transmission and core networks, grew 20% on year, with the company getting a higher share of business from tier 1 telcos such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea to offset losses due to the exits of Telenor India and Tata Teleservices, said Chen.

         “With Tier-1, our market share has improved. So, our carrier business is very stable and has increased. Wireless, transmission, microwave, and core are the areas where we have got business,” Chen said.

         https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/profitability-is-a-challenge-in-india-but-will-continue-investments-huawei-ceo/66135867

2. Huawei is ready to dispel South Korea’s 5G security concerns???

   Huawei has said it’s ready to dispel any 5G security fears in South Korea as it continues to woo operators around the world.

   South Korean telcos are currently deciding which vendors will supply their 5G equipment. The nation’s largest, SK Telecom, has already ruled-out Huawei in favour of Samsung, Nokia, and Ericsson.

   Unlike the US and Australia, the South Korean government has not banned the use of Huawei equipment. There are rumours, however, that it is considering it which may have influenced SK Telecom’s decision.

   “We have kept up with each government’s demands and requirements,” it said. “If the Korean government requires security verification, we will surely comply with it,” Huawei said in a statement.

   LG Uplus, South Korea’s third largest telco, has announced its intention to use Huawei’s equipment for its 5G network. The operator has a history with Huawei for its previous generation networks – so it could be a matter of loyalty.

   https://www.telecomstechnews.com/news/2018/oct/10/huawei-south-korea-5g-security-concerns/

3. Huawei lays out AI roadmap

   Huawei unveiled its AI strategy and AI portfolio at the recent Huawei Connect conference in Shanghai.

   “AI offers new business opportunities, strengthens our products and services to become more competitive and future-oriented, and improves our internal operational management and efficiency,” said Eric Xu, rotating chairman at Huawei.

   10 changes shaping the future

   Huawei has identified 10 changes that will help shape the future of AI. They are faster model training; abundant and affordable computing power; AI deployment in different scenarios and the protection of user privacy; data-efficient, energy-efficient, and explainable algorithms; AI automation especially during processes like data labeling, data collection, and model design; practical applications to meet the needs of real-world execution; real-time and closed-loop system; multi-tech synergy between AI and other technologies; one-stop platform; and talent availability.

   Five areas of AI focus

   To pave the way for these changes, Huawei has unveiled its AI strategy in five areas of focus—AI research investment, full-stack AI portfolio, open ecosystem and talent, existing portfolio enhancement, and operational efficiency in Huawei.

   “Our AI strategy is to invest in basic research and talent development, build a full-stack and all-scenario AI portfolio, and foster an open global ecosystem,” said Xu.

   Huawei’s full-stack AI portfolio includes chips, chip enablement, a training and inference framework, and application enablement. Its portfolio can be deployed in various scenarios including public clouds, private clouds, edge computing in all forms, industrial IoT devices, and consumer devices, according to Huawei.

   On the chip level, Huawei announced the launch of two chips—Ascend 910 and Ascend 310, which are touted to accelerate AI adoption in different industries. Xu touted that Ascend 910 has the world’s greatest computing density in a single chip, which can be applied in large-scale distributed training system. Ascend 310 is an efficient AI chip for low-power computing. The chips will be deployed to offer cloud services to customers next year. Its AI portfolio also includes an AI acceleration card, AI server, and AI appliance.

   https://www.cw.com.hk/digital-transformation/huawei-ramps-up-ai-efforts

4. Follow on to last comment— Huawei’s AI Platform:

   Huawei has released its AI Developer Enablement Program at HUAWEI CONNECT 2018. The program will help Huawei collaborate with developers, partners, universities, and research institutions. Huawei will use the program to build a better development ecosystem that can support AI resources, platforms, courses, and joint solutions. Huawei aims to work with partners to build an affordable, effective, reliable, and inclusive AI ecosystem.

   According to Zheng Yelai, vice president of Huawei and president of Huawei Cloud BU, Huawei’s AI Developer Enablement Program offers a platform for technical communication, talent training, and innovation to developers, tutors, and Huawei partners.

   For Developers, the program covers the following:

   20-hour free introductory training
   Three-week beginner AI training camp
   AI developer contests
   Innovation incubation camp for top talent to help transform R&D success into commercial applications. Huawei will support its partners by:

   Building joint solutions based on Huawei’s AI computing platform and development platform to promote AI application in multiple industries
   Setting up an AI promotion alliance to build a joint innovation lab
   Providing 1000 sets of free development environments, including development modules and boards
   Providing the first 20+ partners with expert resources, supported joint solutions, and extra support for AI product launches and technical implementation
   Sharing market resources with partners, and cooperating closely to further expand the market
   For universities and research institutes, Huawei’s AI talent development plan includes:

   Investing over 140 million USD (including HUAWEI CLOUD AI resources and AI suites) in AI talent education.
   Cooperating with universities and scientific research institutes to develop AI courses, publish text books, and support scientific research and talent training.
   Helping universities and research institutes build AI colleges and institutes, assisting in building AI labs, and participating in AI related programs held by the Ministry of Education.
   Helping universities train AI teachers. Students can take exams to obtain Huawei AI certificates.
   Supporting the participation of universities into Huawei cloud open community, and building a platform for communications between universities, research institutes and Huawei AI experts.
   Offering universities and research institutions the computing power and technology on Huawei’s AI platform, to promote scientific research and exploration in the AI field.
   At present, Huawei has started developing AI talent at eight universities in China, including Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences of Tsinghua University, the University of Science and Technology of China, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanjing University, Southeast University, Xidian University, and the Institute of Acoustics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

5. UK and Germany grow wary of Huawei as US turns up pressure-Delegation from Washington warns against using Chinese supplier for 5G networks. US, Australia and New Zealand have already blocked the use of Huawei 5G equipment on national security grounds.

   The UK and Germany are growing wary of allowing Huawei, the Chinese telecoms company, to install 5G equipment in their countries after a US delegation visited Europe to urge heightened vigilance against national security threats.

   UK security officials on Thursday issued a new public warning to Huawei, saying the Chinese company must fix problems in the equipment it provides to British networks or risk a further deterioration in what is an increasingly strained relationship.

   The clear message delivered by the US delegation this month and in online communications is that Germany and the UK as key American allies must safeguard the security of their telecoms networks and supply chains, said people familiar with the situation.

   The warnings come as Germany and the UK are preparing for auctions next year for 5G, a superfast service that will enable a new generation of digital products and services. Huawei is the world’s biggest telecoms equipment supplier and has been seen as a frontrunner to build the first networks in both countries, where it has conducted extensive 5G tests.

   The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of the digital intelligence agency GCHQ, said Huawei must fix problems, highlighted in July, that pose “new risks in UK telecommunications networks”.

   The issues came to a head in a tense meeting between the board set up to scrutinize Huawei equipment and the Chinese company earlier this month, said government officials and telecoms executives.

   “As you might imagine there are some strains in the relationship as we deal with the issues set out in the latest oversight board report,” the spokesperson said. “But we remain committed to working with the company to put it right.”

   Banning Huawei outright from providing 5G equipment to UK providers or removing them from existing telecoms networks remains unlikely, officials said. But the message to the Chinese company is clear.

   “They are slowing down Huawei to allow the rest of the market to catch up,” said one former intelligence official. “If I was part of oversight board or government, I would be putting the boot in right now.”

   UK security officials rejected the suggestion they are hardening their stance in response to growing pressure from the US, insisting the concerns are not based on Huawei’s Chinese origins as a company but on the way the company manufactures software and equipment which makes critical telecoms networks vulnerable to cyber attack.

   A spokesperson for Huawei said: “We are grateful for this feedback and committed to addressing these issues. Cyber security remains Huawei’s top priority, and we will continue to actively improve our engineering processes and risk management systems.”

   New Zealand this week became the latest country to take action against Huawei, blocking one of its biggest telecoms operators from using Huawei’s 5G equipment. The US and Australia have already blocked the company on national security grounds.

   In Germany, officials said the mood in government was growing increasingly wary of Huawei’s potential involvement in building the country’s 5G network. While it is too early to say if Berlin will ban the Chinese company from participating, concerns in some parts of the government, including the foreign and interior ministries, is deepening, officials said.

   “The US influence on this has really intensified recently,” said one German official, who requested anonymity.

   Cui Haifeng, vice-president of Huawei in west Europe, told the Financial Times in Hamburg that the company was doing everything possible to allay concerns over security. Asked if Germany was set to issue a ban, he said: “So far, I never heard about this kind of thing.”

   “[For] every technology for us at Huawei we always try to put the security and safety as top priorities so all the design, products and services will be safe,” Mr Cui said.

   Raffaello Pantucci, director of international securities studies at UK think-tank RUSI
   “The NCSC has concerns around a range of technical issues and has set out improvements the company must make,” a government spokesperson said. “In the UK, the conversation with regard to China has definitely shifted with the hawks becoming kind of dominant,” Mr Pantucci added.

   The main US concern over Huawei equipment is that the company’s ties to the Chinese government could enable snooping or interference. Huawei has strongly denied such charges.

   More generally, the US is worried about the potential application of China’s National Intelligence Law, approved in 2017, which states that Chinese “organisations and citizens shall . . . support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work”. The risk, said US officials, is that this could mean that Chinese companies overseas are called upon to engage in espionage.

   https://www.ft.com/content/6719b6b2-f33d-11e8-9623-d7f9881e729f (on line sub required)

6. What is Huawei, and why the arrest of its CFO matters, By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business

   The arrest of a top Huawei executive has roiled the business world and threatens to derail the tenuous trade truce between the United States and China. Experts are warning that what happens with Weng’s case could have huge implications for the broader US-China relationship.

   https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/06/tech/what-is-huawei/index.html

7. Barron’s: A U.S. Ban of Huawei Would Reshape the Telecom Market

   The next salvo in the escalating battle between the U.S. and China could come through an executive order that bans U.S. telecom companies from using equipment from certain foreign companies. Any order would largely be directed at Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies. The ban, based on national-security concerns, could be good for Huawei’s rivals, problematic for foreign telecom operators, and worrisome for those keeping tabs on the deepening rift between the two economic superpowers.

   The Trump administration is reportedly preparing an executive order for such a ban. The overall effort is aimed at keeping certain foreign-company equipment out of the next generation of wireless networks, or 5G.

   Shenzhen-based Huawei, the world’s largest telecom-equipment maker, is in the crosshairs of the push. It has risen to dominance by often providing more-advanced and lower-cost gear than rivals and is now akin to Apple (AAPL), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Cisco Systems (CSCO) rolled into one. But Huawei has also long drawn scrutiny from U.S. security and intelligence officials, who have warned that its equipment could be used for spying by the Chinese. Privately held Huawei has denied the allegations, and officials have said the U.S. should offer evidence to prove its charges.

   Analysts describe a ban on the use of Huawei in U.S. telecom networks as mostly symbolic, given its limited presence here; many major U.S. carriers have said they won’t use Huawei for 5G. But a ban would bolster the case the U.S. has been making to allies to blacklist Huawei from their networks—where its gear is much more prevalent.

   The obvious loser from a ban is Huawei, but it would probably try to offset lost sales by intensifying its push into emerging markets, while continuing to reduce its dependence on U.S. companies, says TS Lombard China policy analyst Eleanor Olcott. Huawei didn’t respond to a request for comment about a potential ban.

   European telecom operators could be among the losers if governments there ban Huawei from their respective networks. Many telecom operators in Germany and Britain use Huawei’s equipment. United Kingdom–based Vodafone Group has said it is temporarily halting purchases of Huawei gear for the core of its 5G network.

   Removing and replacing Huawei gear with other, higher-priced alternatives could cost the industry billions of dollars, analysts say. Three of Germany’s telecom operators use Huawei in their networks. European telecoms have warned that cutting out Huawei could delay the 5G rollout on the Continent by at least two years.

   Australia was among the first to ban Huawei, and the companies that took the biggest hit were telecom operators like Singapore Telecommunications ’ Optus and TPG Telecom (TPM.Australia), says Chris Lane, Asia-Pacific telecom analyst for Sanford Bernstein. TPG shares fell 33% from late August to the end of the year.

   No one walks away a clear winner from a Huawei ban. But in the near term, Scandinavia’s Nokia (NOK) and Ericsson (ERIC) would benefit by losing their lower-cost rival in wireless-network equipment. Yet Nokia’s executives were hesitant to trumpet the prospects of market share gains in a recent conference call for fear of raising China’s ire and risking their sales in the world’s largest 5G telecom-equipment market, says Krishna Chintalapalli, a telecom analyst at Ariel Investments.

   Of the two firms, Nokia has more areas where it can gain share because it also competes with Huawei in its optical and routing businesses. The diversity in its business and a more attractive valuation are among the reasons that Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold favors Nokia, citing the diversity in its business and a more attractive valuation. At a recent price of $6.36, Nokia trades at roughly 19 times earnings-per-share estimate for the next 12 months, slightly below its five-year average, while Ericsson, at $9.38, trades around 23 times, slightly above its average. Leopold has an Outperform rating on Nokia and sees 18% upside for the stock. He has a Market Perform on Ericsson. But any Huawei benefit won’t be immediate. “Any transition is like turning around an oil tanker situation. It can take multiple quarters, even more,” Leopold says.

   Samsung Electronics (005930.Korea) is a smaller rival in telecom equipment but could also benefit as telecom operators try to hedge their bets and diversify their equipment suppliers. The company’s deep pockets could allow it to increase spending to fight for some of the market share and close the gap with its rivals.

   Huawei also dominates optical equipment, and a backlash against the Chinese company could help its two biggest rivals in that business, Nokia and Ciena (CIEN). The impact may show up more in Ciena’s results since it is a pure play in the optical space, Leopold says.

   On the router side of the business, Cisco and Juniper Networks (JNPR) could gain some share if telecom operators move away from Huawei. Carriers’ equipment is the main pipeline for data traffic and therefore most vulnerable to a cyberattack or cyberespionage. Both Juniper and Cisco have the advantage of not having much business in China, insulating them from potential retaliation. Leopold rates both companies at Overweight, with a price target of $28 for Juniper and $52 for Cisco, upside of 5% and 9%, respectively.

   For some companies, the threat of retaliation is real, given China’s willingness to boycott products from specific nations. Korean cosmetic makers and tour operators experienced that treatment in late 2017 after South Korea installed a U.S.-made antimissile system.

   But when it comes to technology, China may have a harder time with such boycotts. “Maybe Nokia’s market share goes down a bit, but I don’t see them kicking out Western companies completely,” Chintalapalli says.

   “Their domestic market is large, but if they become a tech island nation, they can’t see what others are doing and be a fast follower. That stymies the innovation they are trying to get.”

   https://www.barrons.com/articles/potential-impact-of-a-huawai-ban-51550096018

Comments are closed.