Huawei to boost emerging markets in digital upgrade

By ANTHONY TAMBWE

HUAWEI, one of the phone companies in the country has outlined its commitment to accelerate digital upgrade in emerging markets.

Making the revelation in Dar es Salaam recently, Huawei Country General Manager, Mr Gao Mengdong, said that access to the internet through mobile and fixed networks would soon become a
basic right of every subscriber, noting that last year, more than 450 million people were connected to the mobile Internet and more than 30 million families had access to broadband services.
He said the company was also set to continue its cooperation with local governments and telecom industry partners on ICT infrastructure initiatives, besides expanding its ecosystem partnerships and introducing new services as well as delivering innovative solutions to bridge the digital divide across emerging markets.
Mr Mengdong said 3 billion people in the world still lack access and 870 million of them do not even own mobile phones, as well as 1.1 billion families which still do not have broadband connections. “With growing mobile adoption and rising GDP per capita in densely populated emerging markets, a large proportion of income is spent on both voice and data services.
This offers significant opportunities for operators,” he said. He further said that it is estimated that over the next five years, more than 1 billion people in emerging markets would be connected and that would result into increase by five to ten times.