Thailand firmly in Huawei’s sights

He was speaking in Barcelona, Spain, during the Mobile World Congress 2019 (MWC 2019) on Sunday.
He added that up to US$23 million (Bt719 million) from the three-year investment budget of $81 million will go to opening its OpenLab in Bangkok and New Delhi. Another $50 million will be spent on developing the Huawei Cloud Developer Programme in the region, while $8 million will be invested in ICT talent development.
“Southeast Asia has always been an important market for Huawei. We have been continuously investing in this market, and bringing in the world’s leading and innovative technologies. We have established our regional HQ in Thailand. We invested $15 million to build the OpenLab in Thailand in 2017,” Wu said. 
“Last year, our global cloud service centre was built in the EEC [Eastern Economic Corridor]. At the end of last year, we worked together with the Thai government to build a 5G test lab to improve the 5G ecosystem. We have invested $5 million in 5G testing. All these show that we have been continuously investing in this market, and we believe it will be one of the most important markets in innovation,” Wu added. 

20th anniversary 
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Huawei Southeast Asia. “We’re trying our best to bring leading, secure and reliable products to this region. I think with the efforts of Huawei and the support of telcos and partners, we can help these countries to achieve their digital vision,” Wu said.
Currently, Huawei’s Southeast Asia region covers 1.7 billion people, including the markets of Thailand, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. In different markets, the company has a different market share. “In general, we appreciate the support of telecom carriers, partners and governments. In most of these markets, our market share is in the top two. In the future, Huawei’s market share will be further consolidated,” Wu said.
Wu said the company wanted to bring leading technologies and innovative solutions, so that all people can enjoy the benefits from technologies.
In the Thailand market, Huawei’s local procurement was worth $180 million last year.
Wu said the company continues to be confident about expanding investments in Thailand although the country may see a new government after the elections in March this year.
“We don’t want to comment on politics. However, we believe that no matter how the policies change, for Thailand, as a digital hub of the region, the digitalisation and intelligent transformation will remain. As the leader of the industry, we will surely increase investments in Thailand, and hope Thai people realise their dreams. Our investment in Thailand will rise,” he said.
Wu added that 5G will bring industry opportunities worth US$1.2 trillion in Southeast Asia in the next five years.
“Southeast Asia will stand out with the fastest GDP growth at about 5-6 per cent on average in the next five years, and digital economy will be the major driver behind such growth, accounting for 20 per cent. We are committed to the development of digital economy in Southeast Asia countries, and collaborating with partners in order to build a digital ecosystem,” he said.
Meanwhile, Huawei Consumer Business Group chief executive officer, Richard Yu, on Sunday introduced five new products at the MWC2019. They included the Huawei MateBook, including Huawei MateBook X Pro, Huawei MateBook 13 and Huawei MateBook 14, followed by 5G foldable smartphones Huawei Mate X and Huawei 5G CPE Pro.
Yu said that with the advent of the all-scenario era, consumers are looking for revolutionary experiences. The company will spare no effort to create a world-leading 5G unlike anything before. All the new products launched on Sunday will enter the Asean region, including Thailand, within this year, he said.