Under scrutiny Huawei launches 5G consulting wing
Chinese multinational technology company has announced the launch of a new consulting brand, which aims to help telecoms players adapt to new technologies such as 5G. The news comes as the UK looks set to freeze “high-risk” vendors such as Huawei out of its 5G network systems.
Earlier in the year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson provoked a furious response from US President Donald Trump, when he announced that Chinese tech giant Huawei would be permitted a limited role supplying telecom networks with 5G apparatus. The move still excluded “high-risk vendors” including Huawei from UK operators’ core networks and placed a 35% cap on its presence in the radio access network, however as the escalating trade war between the US and China had seen Trump vocally lobby allies to completely bar Huawei from 5G networks, citing ‘security concerns’ – pleas the UK looked set to snub.
Trump railed against the deal – and according to reports at the time, was “apoplectic” in a phone call to Downing Street – and with a post-Brexit trade deal still hanging in the balance between the two countries, it now looks as though the Prime Minister will cave in to demand from across the Atlantic.
The UK now appears to be drawing up plans that would see use of Huawei gear completely phased out by 2023, according to a Telegraph report, further verified by other outlets citing unnamed British government officials.
Huawei’s market position may well be damaged by the current campaign being waged against it – but amid the chaos the firm has opted to launch a new consulting brand. With changes to the ICT industry and the emergence of new technologies such as 5G, Cloud, and AI, and the rise of B2B market demand, carriers are facing more and more uncertainties and refined operational challenges – and while the powers that be might be pushing back against Huawei directly providing the necessary infrastructure, it might still be able to tap into this demand by offering advisory solutions relating to it.
To this end, Huawei Carrier Consulting Services states that its aim is to help carriers to proactively cope with the opportunities and challenges brought by new technologies, new business, and new models, to create and obtain value for customers. Huawei will now offer consulting services for the carrier market and its customers, including comprehensive professional consulting services and solutions, covering strategic predictions, top-level design, product and offering designs, end-to-end network planning, operation optimisation, and reconstruction and ecosystem value-based operations.
As of today, Huawei Carrier Consulting has served more than 100 carrier customers around the world with the support of a consulting team distributed across nine regions and two competence centres. In the long-term, Huawei is expecting its consulting wing will cooperate with more global carriers, industry partners, and professional institutions to establish a regular communication mechanism to enhance mutual understanding and collaboration, thus playing a more active role in the development of the telecoms industry generally and the consulting industry specifically.
