Chinese multinational technology corporation, Huawei Technologies Co has pledged to further increase its investments for digital transformation in Africa as it hosts industry executives and regulators from the continent for a 5G summit.
Held in the Thai capital, Bangkok, the event is seen as a platform to draw African countries to 5G technology powered by Shenzhen-based Huawei.
President of Huawei’s northern Africa business, Benjamin Hou, said they are hosting the summit to support digital transformation in the region.
“As the third wave of the global 5G market, Africa will open the 5G era in 2023,” Mr Benjamin Hou, pledged Huawei’s support to the development of 5G in Africa.
“Huawei will further increase its investment in Africa to support the steady development of 5G to facilitate digital transformation in the region
“In Africa, for Africa, Huawei will continue to deepen cooperation with industry partners to support customers’ business success in the 5G era.”
Huawei has already built massive information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure across Africa, but faces challenges in the United States and other Western countries in the northern hemisphere over security concerns.
The Trump administration had banned tech exports to Chinese companies including Huawei, ZTE Corp and China Telecom over alleged ties to Chinese military or surveillance networks, and lobbied allied nations to do the same.
President Joe Biden took his predecessor’s restrictions forward last year, signing a law to block Chinese companies including Huawei.
Huawei also faces headwinds in Europe, where Britain and some European Union countries have blacklisted the company from supplier lists for mobile networks, including 5G.
PIAK
