Huawei, Angola dial up big success in telecoms network improvement

Chinese company Huawei Technologies, a leading global information and communications technology solutions provider, has contributed to the economic development of the African nation of Angola by providing it with better technologies, services and job opportunities.

Huawei first entered the telecommunications market in Angola in 1998 and founded its first branch office in the country in 2006.

The company provides internet services for one-third of Angola's population and paid more than $10 million in tax in the country from 2013 to 2016.

Huawei has given technological support to local e-government programs and online education sharing platforms to expand more internet access for Angolan teenagers.

In addition, its online medical care project was launched in Hospital Geral De Luanda in the country's capital city of Luanda.

Such has been Huawei's impact felt in the Angolan market. Its smart phones have ranked top in sales for the past three years since 2015, according to GFK, an international market research institute.

The company has established cooperation with local partners, including Angola Telecom, Unitel, Movicel, Netone and MST, to help build a better telecommunications network in the country.

Huawei has highlighted its localization in Angola by transferring technologies and knowledge to local operators, training Angolans and creating job and business opportunities.

Its localization strategy has ensured that local management teams can shoulder more operational responsibilities from end to end.

Of Huawei's 100-plus employees in Angola, 70 percent are local people.

To date, the company has trained about 1,000 local engineers for various ICT companies. It has also created more than 500 job opportunities in the country since 2006.

In a key project of Huawei's global corporate social responsibility framework, the company has already financed 10 young Angolans to take ICT training lessons in China.

Huawei aims to promote and increase interest in the ICT industry, encourage greater participation in the construction of digital communities, and acquire skills that people need in work.

The company said the project, under the support of local telecommunications and higher education departments, will benefit more young people in the future.

In 2013, Huawei donated internet equipment to schools in 18 provinces in Angola, providing multimedia classrooms to serve more than 18,000 students.

It donated educational equipment for School Oscar Ribas and nutritional food for three communities in the city of Cazenga in 2016 to help in poverty alleviation.

Ranked 83rd among Fortune Global 500 companies, Huawei now has entered more than 170 countries and has 180,000 employees.

As a digital society enabler, Huawei has consistently invested over 10 percent of its revenue in research and development every year. It says its vison is "bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world".

chenmeiling@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/30/2018 page7)