Huawei eyes spot among top 5 Phl suppliers

MANILA, Philippines - Huawei Technologies Philippines Inc. expects to sustain the company’s projected strong growth this year up to next year as it hopes to become one of the top five suppliers of telecommunications equipment in the country.

In a press briefing, Huawei country chief executive officer Charles Liwei said the company hopes to corner between 10 percent and 15 percent of the Philippine market next year to become one of the top five suppliers in the country.

He said this would be about three times the current market share of five percent in the Philippine market.

To achieve this, he pointed out that the company intends to expand its distribution network by setting up stand alone stores on top of its partnerships with telecom giants PLDT, Smart Communications Inc., Digitel, and Globe Telecom Inc.

 “We are planning to expand our distribution channels,” he stressed.

According to him, the company hopes to sustain the projected revenue growth of about 100 percent to $130 million this year from $65 million last year until next year.

 “We hope we can maintain the growth,” he added.

The official explained that the Philippines is a very important market for Huawei due to its huge population as well as the developed telco infrastructure established by major players in the industry.

In fact, he added, that Southeast Asia that includes the Philippines is a very important region for the company with a growth of 10 percent to 12 percent in terms of revenues.

“We don’t have a big market share in the Philippines but there is a huge potential,” he said.

Huawei yesterday launched long term evolution (LTE) capable smartphones becoming the first company to introduce such devices in the Philippines.

It introduced three Android smartphones including the Ascend P1, the Ascend P1 LTE, and Ascend D1 LTE.

Huawei Device Philippines country manager Johnson Ma said the company’s smartphones are products of its 20 years of wireless network experience and understanding.

 “We are able to optimize the network search algorithm for Ascend and base station auto-search technology, allowing us to have a faster signal detection and longer battery life,” Ma stressed.