Huawei sees India in top 5 revenue generating markets for its enterprise business in next 5 years

Chinese telecom equipment provider Huawei is betting big on its enterprise business in India. It expects India to come under top five revenue generating markets for its enterprise business in the next five years.

Huawei recently started its first OpenLab in India, which will design information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for enterprises, smart cities, smart campus among others.

This is its first lab in India and 12th globally, and will serve clients in India as well as outside. An investment of $200 million will be made by 2020 to increase the number of OpenLabs to 20 across the globe, Huawei India, president - enterprise business group Derek Hao told DNA Money.

Over the next three years, Huawei will be investing a total of $23 million in its OpenLabs in India and Thailand. OpenLab will focus on driving smart city innovations in areas including internet of things (IoT), smart pole, smart building, smart campus, smart transportation, intelligent video surveillance solutions and convergent command and control solutions, he said.

India is among the top 10 countries for enterprise business segment for Huawei. India is one of the fastest growing markets for us. In the first three quarters of current year, we registered a growth of 60% in the enterprise business here, which is more that the global average of around 43%, he said.

The global enterprise business for Huawei stood at about $4.25 billion in 2017.

We are targeting a growth of 60% in enterprise business in India next year because of various government initiatives such as Digital India and smart cities, Hao said.

Various smart solutions will be build from the OpenLab. For instance, there is a smart pole which can be installed on traffic tights through on which surveillance cameras can be installed, people can charge their phone, there will be emergency number which one can call. This will work through mobile connectivity, be it 3G or 4G or 5G as the solutions will be adaptable.

OpenLab Delhi will offer ICT training to nearly 400 personnel per year, provide ICT career certification to 250 engineers per year and proof of concept training to nearly 100 engineers annually. Huawei will start 5G trials in India in the next year and has showcased 5G use cases with Airtel already.

India is a key market for the enterprise business. This OpenLab is an important part of Huawei’s global OpenLab plan. With this, we look to serve India as well as global partners and customers leveraging its global expertise, talents, technologies, and customer business successes.

“We will develop industry ICT ecosystem locally. This will also empower enterprises to quickly respond to new market opportunities and develop competitive, commercialised solutions by testing them in a real live environment,” Hao said.

EXPERIMENT WITH LABS
$200 mn Huawei will invest in 20 OpenLabs across the world by 2020

60% growth-- Co logged in enterprise business in India

400 No. of people Huawei would train annually in ICT in India

STRATEGIC CALL
-India is among the top 10 countries for enterprise business segment for Huawei and one of the fastest growing markets for the company  
-In the first 3 quarters of current year, the firm saw a growth of 60% in the enterprise business in India, global average was 43%  
-Huawei is targeting 60% growth in enterprise business in India next year due to government initiatives such as Digital India, smart cities

This story first appeared in DNA Money: Huawei bets on enterprise space