Huawei's CEO hasn't spoken to the press in 26 years
After 26 years at the helm of Huawei, the company's CEO and Founder Mr. Ren Zhengfei, has given his first ever press briefing outlining Huawei's business ambitions including addressing global cyber security challenges.
The briefing follows recent comments from the CEO that none of his family will be the next CEO of the company, and that Huawei will not go public in the next five to 10 years. During the session, Mr. Ren also highlighted the importance of addressing one of the key global challenges for the ICT sector – cyber-security.
"As a leading global company, Huawei attaches great importance on cyber-security," Mr. Ren said. "Cyber-security is a significant challenge facing our industry globally today. The solution must involve governments, telecommunications operators and ICT companies including Huawei and our peers, as well as end users coming together to take collaborative, solutions-oriented, multi-lateral approaches to mitigate the risk."
Mr. Ren's first media briefing comes in line with Huawei's recent endeavors to increase its corporate transparency and encourage an open and collaborative dialogue with industry stakeholders to drive improved standards for the ICT sector.
When facing the challenge of U.S. network security, where concerns raised by lawmakers have prevented Huawei from doing expanded business, Mr. Ren said: "Huawei equipment is almost non-existent in networks currently running in the U.S. We have never sold any key equipment to major U.S. carriers, nor have we sold any equipment to any U.S. government agency. Huawei has no connection to the cyber security issues the U.S. has encountered in the past, current and future."
The event also follows Huawei's recent efforts to make more executives available to the media, including when the company released its 2012 annual report last month and two of its most senior executives hosted a roundtable with reporters.
Within the Middle East, Huawei has over a decade of regional experience and has maintained consistent double-digit revenue growth in recent years driven by over 3,500 employees working across the company's three core business groups. Rapid growth in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) during 2012 contributed to record Huawei regional sales revenue of $12.42 billion, an increase of 6.1 percent year-on-year.
The company has worked with top telecom operators in the region deploying several industry firsts, including the Middle East's first ever LTE commercial networks in Saudi Arabia and UAE. The company is already linked with additional operators in Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain on other LTE mobile broadband projects.
Mr. Ren's latest briefing was held as part of a commemoration ceremony for a new agreement in which Huawei was chosen to build an expansive new 4G LTE network for service provider Telecom New Zealand.
