Huawei's UMTS/GSM shipments record over 100% growth in H1 2008

"In the first half of this year, we have seen an increasing number of top-tier operators partner with Huawei to deploy future-oriented networks based on our IP-based convergent mobile broadband platform. We are committed to meeting our customers' demands and help them realize potential business growth," said Mr. Wan Biao, Executive Deputy President of Huawei Wireless Product Line.

Commenting about the rapid growth witnessed in the middle-east region, Mr. Ihab Ghattas, CBDO, MENA, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. said:

"As compared to the first half of last year, Huawei's business growth has been tremendous witnessing a 150% y-o-y growth rate in the M.E. region fuelled by a number of new licensing agreements with leading regional operators. The other key factor instrumental for driving market share is the increased support and confidence that Huawei's operator partners have shown in our products."

In the GSM space, Huawei delivered 800,000 TRXs, more than the total number of shipments for the whole of 2007 in the first six months of 2008. 400,000 TRXs were delivered in China and India alone. To date, Huawei has secured 111 UMTS/HSPA commercial contracts and continues to lead the market with 25 new contract wins in the first half of 2008.

"The development of mobile telecommunications has reached a new stage where network convergence and smooth evolution to future networks is a necessary requirement by operators," added Mr. Wan Biao.

Informa recently forecast that the number of global GSM subscribers is likely to exceed 3.2 billion, that the number of UMTS/HSPA subscribers is likely to grow to nearly 1.4 billion in 2012 and that many different kinds of technology systems, including HSPA+ and LTE, are likely to continue coexist in the long-term. Additionally, in developed countries, such as Europe, GSM operators have the challenge of maintaining aging equipment with large energy consumption and high maintenance costs, while trying to the launch of new services and ensure smooth network evolution.

To help operators meet this challenge, Huawei recently introduced an innovative single RAN solution based on these expectations, featuring a unified Fourth Generation BTS platform, BSC platform, co-transmission and unified O&M, which can support multi-mode radio access, including LTE. With a single RAN solution, network evolution is made easier for operators. Investment in various radio access networks is avoided and TCO, including site room construction, transmission costs as well as O&M are reduced. Huawei's single RAN solution can swap and optimize the old GSM networks, improve their performance, decrease O&M costs, reduce their power consumption and carbon dioxide emissions and pave the way for the smooth evolution to future networks.

"Such solutions are becoming of special interest to most operators around the world, and the Middle East is no exception especially in the Gulf Region as issues related to protecting the environment are attracting more attention," added Mr. Ghattas.