Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday said that its revenue for the first nine months of the year grew 24.4 percent year-on-year, despite a US campaign to isolate the company globally.
Revenue jumped to 610.8 billion yuan (US$86.2 billion) and its profit margin grew 8.7 percent, the company announced.
The firm has been under immense pressure this year as Washington lobbied allies worldwide to avoid the company’s telecom gear over security concerns, and in May blacklisted it from both the US market and buying crucial US components.
Photo: Bloomberg
The US has expressed concerns that Huawei equipment could contain security loopholes that allow China to spy on global communications traffic, but the company has repeatedly denied the accusation.
“Huawei has maintained its focus on ICT [information and communications technologies] infrastructure and smart devices, and continued to boost the efficiency and quality of its operations,” a company statement said.
“This contributed to increased operational and organizational stability and solidified the company’s performance in the first three quarters of 2019,” it said.
Huawei on Tuesday said it welcomed the German government’s move to “create a level playing field” for 5G suppliers, after Berlin released draft security guidelines for next generation wireless networks that stopped short of banning Huawei, even though the US warned again it would reconsider intelligence sharing with allies that use the company’s equipment.
The German Federal Network Agency catalog of conditions for suppliers of new 5G networks include requiring certification of critical components and ensuring trustworthiness of manufacturers, without singling out Huawei for exclusion.
Meanwhile, Huawei is betting it can find customers for its 5G gear in India, where the government has yet to weigh in on US calls for a boycott of the firm.
“The approach we took to engage with the Indian government is very transparent, direct and cooperative,” Jay Chen (陳明杰), chief executive officer of Huawei’s India business, said in an interview in New Delhi on Tuesday. “We have given a full commitment to follow all rules and regulations, full compliance.”
India, the largest wireless market outside China by number of subscribers, has been a focus for investment by Huawei, even though the government has yet to set dates for auctioning 5G spectrum to carriers.
The company’s products remain essential to India’s wireless ecosystem and technological development, Chen said.
Thus far, top carriers Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd have decided to work with non-Chinese equipment manufacturers for 5G trials, the Business Standard newspaper reported last month, citing people it did not identify.
Vodafone Idea Ltd is working with Ericsson AB, Nokia Oyj and Huawei on developing 5G technology, according to the newspaper.
Jio and Airtel declined to comment, the paper said.
Additional reporting by AP and Bloomberg
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