Huawei leads global ICT discussions at ITU Telecom World 2012

In addition to being a platinum sponsor of the overall ITU Telecom World 2012, Huawei's Broader Way Forum was one of the paramount sessions investigating how to expand the socioeconomic benefits of national broadband networks (NBN) within the Middle East and abroad. The forum was hosted by Mr. Nigel Pugh, Telco Consulting Practice Head at Ovum, with speakers including Mr. Houlin Zhao, ITU Deputy-Secretary General.

As national broadband networks become more affordable and efficient, its importance to other systems such as transportation, education and power—cornerstones to overall social prosperity—has become more pronounced. Broadband can also play a central role in addressing today's most challenging issues such as poverty and unemployment. However, because of varying degrees of broadband penetration in different countries and regions, the projected social economy benefits are not uniform in scope or scale.

More than 30 countries have made national broadband commitments worldwide—including nations such as UAE and Qatar—with experts at research firm Booz & Company earlier this year predicting the number of broadband lines in the MENA region to reach more than 150 million by 2015.

Paul Michael Scanlan, Huawei's Vice President of Solution Sales and Marketing and Huawei's panelist for the Broader Way Forum, said, "Huawei's involvement in eight of the nine global national broadband networks demonstrates how we apply innovation to ensure that profitable and sustainable benefits are realized by the operators of these networks. Huawei's unique blend of 'go-to-market' cost effective network design, extensive knowledge transfer program and rapid implementation has proven to be an ideal recipe for national broadband network ecosystems."

Over the last year Huawei has held a number of Broader Way Forums around the world that have centered on different industry themes and ideas, including broadband's role in economic development, closing the digital divide, network security, LTE technology, and inspiring ICT innovation.

This week's Broader Way Forum attracted a variety of leaders from regulatory agencies and telecom operators to inspire actions that seek to improve the overall impact of broadband around the world. The forum identified new growth and business models that will equip the industry with the means to leverage mobile broadband so that social and economic benefits can be achieved in both developed and developing countries.

During the weeklong ITU Telecom World 2012 event, Huawei executives will also be participating in two additional panels on "eHealth in the 21st Century: Transformation and Collaboration"—a discussion on new opportunities in eHealth and its application in our ever-more connected world—and "Networks with a Human Face"—a discussion of the evolution of network design from technology-centric to human-centric. Mr. Qing Zhao, Huawei Software Enterprise Products VP, will speak at the former with Mr. Sanqi Li, CTO of Carrier Network Business Group at Huawei, participating in the latter.