Huawei: Plans, challenges and achievements in PNG

News editor GYNNIE KERO spoke to Huawei management following an information session with the firm earlier this month

When did Huawei enter the Papua New Guinea (PNG) market?
A: Huawei PNG was officially registered on June 19, 2007.

What’s Huawei’s main business/operation in the country?
A: We are an ICT (Information Communication Technology) equipment and solutions provider.
Our Consumer Business Group also has its representation here selling Huawei end-user devices.

How many outlets do the company have in PNG? Any plans to increase its footprint?
A: One at the moment: Port Moresby head office.
Not at the moment, but staff is quite mobile.
They cover business operations, when required, by short-term business travels.

What is Huawei involved in, apart from its core business?
A: Our ICT talent programme.
It’s an inclusive programme containing several sub projects.
The first, the Seeds For The Future, is a project dedicated to providing opportunities to five PNG college students on a yearly basis for a two-week training/study programme in China.
It started in 2018 and the programme has, thus far, “graduated” 10 students for a unique study experience.
The second are community engagements or Social Corporate Responsibility (CSR).
Huawei PNG is happy to support various community programmes.
We sponsored the Hunters in 2016, Saints Basketball Team in 2019, donated to the earthquake relief in 2018 and we have been helping villagers when delivering projects.

How many PNG locals have been employed by Huawei?
A: Directly and indirectly, Huawei PNG has created 90 job opportunities for PNG nationals to engage in or support our daily business operation.

What are the significant challenges/achievements experienced by the company since the establishment of its PNG operations?
A: Huawei PNG has made significant contributions to the ICT infrastructure development in PNG.
World Bank statistics suggest the mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people in PNG have increased from 4.526 in 2005 to 48.696 in 2017.
In 2017, it was estimated that 11.209 per cent of the PNG population is using the Internet.
Previously, it was 1.791 per cent.
Huawei PNG brought the 4G network or platform technologies into the country which has significantly increased the connectivity through wireless communication and has trigged the start of a fall in mobile service charges.
By working with our customers, the network coverage was successfully expanded to enable more and more people to enjoy the benefits brought about by the 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network, the same type of
technology used around the globe.
And, we are proud to say that tremendous efforts have been invested by Huawei PNG in the ecosystem development.
We care about the industry development and have created a good number of opportunities to train local ICT talents.
As the ICT industry in this country continues to expand, the lack of local ICT talents has become one of the biggest bottleneck and challenge for Huawei PNG to grow and better serve the industry.
What is Huawei‘s view on the submarine cable that is likely to be completed by the end of this year?
The DataCo domestic cable project will for sure create opportunities for much faster speed and much lower rates for access to the internet and data.
Fourteen cities will be connected for connectivity enhancement.
Better connectivity means benefits not only to consumers but also to businesses.
MSMEs (Micro Small Medium Enterprises) will be able to use cheaper and faster network to incubate their business transactions and services.

Launching of the Huawei
PNG Information Communication
Technology (ICT) Talent programme last year.

Huawei offers free of charge monthly open courses.
Pictured is one of the first class of the Information
Communication Technology (ICT) at the training centre.