by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – HUAWEI has pledged to bring connectivity to about 120 million people in remote areas in more than 80 countries by 2025.
This is through its signing a global commitment to join the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Partner2Connect (P2C) digital alliance.
Liang Hua, Chairman of Huawei, announced the decision at the company’s 2022 Sustainability Forum, Connectivity+: Innovate for Impact.
The forum explored how ICT innovation could unleash the business and social value of connectivity and drive sustainability in the digital economy era.
“It is clear connectivity alone is not enough,” said ITU Deputy Secretary-General, Malcolm Johnson.
“It must be affordable, the content must be relevant and in the local language, and users must have the skills to make best use of it,” Johnson said.
Johnson hailed Huawei for its support of the P2C and for its announced P2C pledges in the key areas of rural connectivity and digital skills.
In his keynote address, Hua stressed that access to a stable network was a basic requirement and right in the digital age.
“Connectivity will be more than just a tool for convenient communications,” he said.
Hua said together with digital technologies like cloud and artificial intelligence (AI), connectivity will help bring everyone into the digital world, and provide them with access to more information and skills, better services and wider business opportunities.
“This will, in turn, drive further social and economic development,” he added.
Huawei integrates the full-technology innovation potential of equipment, sites, energy, transmission, and antennas to address the difficulties faced by traditional site deployment, such as high costs, restricted transportation, lack of power, and maintenance challenges.
This is according to Cao Ming, President of Huawei Wireless Solution.
Huawei has continuously upgraded the RuralStar and RuralLink solutions to extend quality coverage to remote areas.
This enables more people, community hospitals, schools, local governments, and small- and medium-sized enterprises to enjoy the same high-speed broadband connectivity experiences as those in cities.
Speakers at the event on Tuesday included senior leaders from the ITU and United Nations, telecom ministers and regulators in Cambodia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and business leaders, partners, experts, and customers from China, South Africa, Belgium, and Germany.
– CAJ News