Kingdom of Bahrain

JT: Brand-building takes time, especially
when done globally, and in 2016 Huawei
saw steady improvement in our brand
recognition. We rose to #72 on Interbrand’s
global brand ranking, moving up 16 spots or
18 percent from 2015. In 2016, in addition to
product ads, we launched a comprehensive
corporate branding campaign. It used a
series of images and stories to convey to
our key stakeholders as well as the general
public who we are, where we came from,
and what we stand for. This campaign has
run in many countries and regions. I believe
you can see the impact in our business,
which has grown substantially this year.
KA: What is Huawei’s global marketing
vision as the world’s leading
telecommunications company, which
some argue, many consumers in the
Western world don’t know much about?
JT: Again, we’ve begun talking more about
our values, what we believe and why we do
what we do. We don’t want to be known
simply as a company that makes phones,
or network switching equipment, even
though we do make those things. We want
to be known as a company that enables the
digital, intelligent society of the future.
That may sound a bit abstract, but it’s really
not. In an intelligent world, factories will run
more efficiently, farmers will use less water
and get better crop yields, streetlamps will
use less electricity, and nearly everything
will emit less carbon. People will have
access to always-on medical services and
education. Cities will be safer. The potential
for improving the quality of everyday life
is immense. You can get bogged down in
the bits and bytes, but as a communicator,
I always try to emphasize technology’s
benefits to people and society.
KA: What specific endeavours by your
team of media and communications
professionals have helped elevate
Huawei’s standing as a top technology
player on the global scale?
JT: One of Huawei’s core principles is to
remain customer-centric, and if you’re in
Corporate Communications, your main
customers are the media. My team tries to
apply that philosophy to our engagement
with journalists around the world. We give
them information that provides context
for their stories, so they in turn can help
their audiences better understand not just
Huawei has been investing in 5G research since
2009. We collaborate closely with top universities
including Harvard, University of California at
Berkeley, and Cambridge, and to date have
published more than 250 research papers
about 5G technology”
Huawei, but the technological changes
affecting the economy and the world.
One new thing we did last year was to start
an influencer marketing function aimed at
Key Opinion Leaders, or KOLs – bloggers
and other people who may not be accredited
journalists, but are nevertheless shaping
conversations related to technology in
general, and Huawei in particular. We look
for people who have substantial online
followings, or who have a strong influence in
specific areas such as cloud computing, safe
cities, robotics, or fintech. Currently we have
more than 100 KOLs. In 2016, they shared
Huawei-related content that reached 39
million people.
KA: How is Huawei promoting its
innovation and best practices particularly
within South Asia and the MENA region?
JT: In the Middle East, Huawei manages
more than 24 operators’ networks in more
than 10 countries. We have three resource
centers dedicated to Managed Services, and
three training centers across the region. We
partner with leading local organizations to
create innovation centers in the UAE, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and elsewhere.
We also invest in local talent through our
“Seeds for the Future” program. Partners
in that program include leading universities
such as King Fahd University of Petroleum
and Minerals, UAE Higher Colleges of
Technology, King Saud University, Kuwait
University, Texas A&M University in Qatar,
and the University of Bahrain. We also work
with regulatory and other government
authorities, and with organizations such as
Aramco, UAE TRA, Saudi CITC, Oman TRA.
In South Asia, Huawei’s Lean GSM
solution helped Telenor India in its digital
transformation project. Among other things,
we provided green solutions that reduced
power consumption by nearly one-third and
increased spectrum efficiency and network
capacity by more than 30%. Telenor took
that saved spectrum and used it to launch
an affordable high-speed internet service
to a mass market in India. Last August, we
set up a Global Services Center (GSC) in
Bangalore with an investment of over US
$20 million. And in partnership with Flex, a
contract manufacturer, last fall we started
manufacturing Smart Phones in India.
KA: What are your views on IoT for
telecom operators, on its sustainability
practices, and how should it be viewed by
the general public in terms of its potential
contributions to enhancing quality of life?
JT: IoT is a big contributor to sustainability.
It’s already making a difference in agriculture
by helping farmers in drought-stricken
regions conserve water. In California, for
example, some farmers are already using
20% less water to grow their crops because
of IoT technology. This increases yields,
while lowering costs. Smart power grids will
use IoT sensors that help operators manage
loads more efficiently and check meters
remotely. Buildings will use less energy and
emit less carbon. Huawei recently conducted
a year-long pilot experiment in China where
a four-story office building employed
energy-control systems using IoT sensor
technology. After just one year, the building
had saved the equivalent of 165 tons of coal.
Rolled out across China, such programs
could reduce air pollution substantially.
Manufacturing, public infrastructure, and
many other areas will also benefit from the
efficiencies created by the IoT.
KA: What R&D leadership role has Huawei
taken to accelerate the development of
5G technologies, and do you also view
2020 as being the year of 5G’s widespread
availability?
JT: Huawei has been investing in 5G research
since 2009. We collaborate closely with top
universities including Harvard, University of
California at Berkeley, and
12 January 2017