Huawei`s Vice-President for Central Asian region, Mr. Hou Tao: Every corner of Central Asia will become digital

Information technologies have radically changed our lives and work over the past 30 years, while smartphones and mobile Internet has created a new way of life. Over the next 30 years, information technology will enable businesses and the world to become digital, creating an incredible market space.

Thus, Huawei strives to bring digital transformation to every person, every home and organization for an intellectual world without borders. We plan to annually invest between 15 to 20 billion US dollars in research and innovation, in order to make key technological breakthroughs. We also plan to invest 10 to 20 billion US dollars to improve our system of marketing, sales and service, in order to better serve our customers and create a positive industrial ecosystem.

The digital economy covers all sectors in the Central Asian region. The introduction of digital technologies improves the efficiency of a government and helps enterprises to achieve automation and flexibility, accelerates the development of commercial applications based on mobile Internet. The digital economy is now becoming a new driving force for economic transformation and growth in all countries.

Huawei has been working in Central Asia for many years, building partnerships with all key telecom operators, is a leading provider of ICT solutions in the region. The products and services that we provide in Central Asia include mobile broadband (2G, 3G, 4G and 4.5 G), fixed voice and broadband services (xDSL, FTTH, etc.), trunk transmission and IPTV.

In order to promote digital transformation in the countries of Central Asia and to go beyond traditional boundaries, to introduce digital life in every family in the region and to prepare for the coming era of information society, Huawei intends to cooperate with governments and operators of the Central Asian region.

First of all, we intend to create national broadband access and close the digital divide. The penetration rate of home broadband and mobile broadband in Central Asia is quite low so far. The average broadband penetration rate in the region is only 34 percent, and in Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan less than 10 percent. An advanced ICT infrastructure is an incentive for economic growth and the creation of an intellectual world. Huawei's GCI report shows that a 20% increase in investment in ICT infrastructure could lead to a 1% increase in GDP and a 20% increase in productivity.

Central Asian countries have a high percentage of fixed telephones, which is an advantage that should be used. We must reuse existing copper wire resources and implement Huawei's innovative end-to-end solutions to rapidly deploy broadband networks. There are enormous prospects for the deployment of a low-cost Wtx in remote areas, where high prices and low Internet speed are dominating to date.

For example, the land in Mongolia is privately owned, while the families of nomads live in a large space far from each other, which leads to high cost of deploying optical fibers and the slow development of home broadband access. The WTTx from Huawei helped Mongolia to quickly implement broadband coverage at a low price. Every month 10,000 home broadband users used to connected to the system, and the level of broadband penetration in the country increased by 7% in 2017.

Secondly, it is important to work with the government to strengthen ICT development at the highest level. Building ICT infrastructure plays a crucial role in social reforms, narrowing the digital divide, promoting innovation and enhancing national competitiveness. 170 countries have worked out their national plan for ICT infrastructure development. Huawei will participate in the development of an ICT development plan in Central Asian countries that will contribute to economic development and improve people's living standards. To date, Huawei has participated in the development of national plans in the field of ICT in Turkey, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Belarus is one of the first countries in the region to work out an ICT development plan. According to the latest ICT development index issued by ITU Belarus ranks 32^nd, due to the attention of the government. The President of Belarus signed a decree on the development of the digital economy, which aims at improving the business environment for attracting foreign investments in order to increase national competitiveness, investing in training IT talents for future development and introduction of new financial tools and technologies for the development of the digital economy and modernization of traditional industries.

Third, it is necessary to break through commercial borders and help operators succeed. In recent years, business operators have been affected by fluctuations in the market investment cycle, but they have been able to maintain a stable operation. Market volatility also allows Huawei to work more closely with its customers to explore and understand network building trends from "investment-oriented" to "value-oriented." Huawei intends to build quality home broadband access in Central Asia to harness the potential of existing network assets and deliver end-to-end services for video, IOT, and cloud communications to individuals, home users, and enterprise users.

In Turkey Huawei cooperated with Turkcell, to provide users maximum experience in relation to the content, O&M, increase ARPU and the number of video users. Huawei OpenLife solution for smart home helped Belarusian families to build "smart home systems" that improve comfort and safety for users due to energy saving, automation, etc

In the future, 5G will be a great opportunity for operators, which will greatly enrich the use of the network and will be able to serve even more facilities, including people, things and industries. One physical network promises millions of use cases. In Central Asia, we have started cooperation with local operators in the 5G area. Huawei will not only help customers build 5G networks, but also work with industry partners to help customers succeed in 5G business and explore 5G innovations.

Finally, it is necessary to build an open, win-win and prosperous ecosystem. The creation of an advanced ICT infrastructure is not conducted by a single company or individual. We call on governments, enterprises and society to work shoulder to shoulder in terms of policies, initiatives and funds.

Huawei is committed to working with local partners to promote ecosystem building. Huawei focuses on ICT infrastructure and smart devices to provide a good environment for the development of information technology, automation and smart technologies. Under these circumstances, partners can easily create their own content, apps, and cloud.

Creating a "smart" society requires a lot of professionalism. Huawei continuously contributes to the training of specialists in the field of ICT in Central Asia and puts social responsibility and business development on an equal footing. In 2017, Turkey, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan implemented a global training program for ICT talents "Seeds for the future", and so far more than 500 specialists in this region have been trained under the program. We also cooperate with famous universities in Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in order to create local platforms for training specialists in the field of information technology by providing equipment for training, training of teachers and creating classrooms within the framework of Huawei Authoritative Information and Networking Academy (HAINA). To date, the program has trained more than 2,000 professionals. We also award scholarships for students and provide educational equipment to institutions of higher education of Uzbekistan, Turkey and Kazakhstan under sponsorship terms.

Following the principles of openness, win – win cooperation, we intend to cooperate with the government and partners in 2018, to make an even greater contribution to the digital and economic transformation of all countries in the Central Asian region.