By Brontë H. Lacsamana
SHENZHEN-BASED multinational company Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. is looking to contribute to digitalization efforts in the Philippines through local partnerships.
Jay Chen, vice-president of Huawei Asia Pacific, said at a round table at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) on March 1 that the Philippines is “very dynamic” in its development of digital solutions.
“As per my understanding, in the last couple of years, the investments for the ICT (information and communications technology) industry in the Philippines are very huge, with very strong investments [compared to] many countries in the region,” he said.
He said Huawei has “a lot of potential for partnerships with [the] local industry” and will likely be able to “contribute something from our side.”
Last year, the company invested $100 million in technology startups in Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries including the Philippines, with the goal to build a sustainable start-up ecosystem in the region over the next three years.
It also invested $150 million in developing APAC’s ICT talent through its five-year program Seeds for the Future 2.0, which will benefit 3 million students in the region.
Huawei anticipates that ICT can help conserve ten times’ worth of the world’ energy while only consuming 2% of it, according to Michael MacDonald, chief digital officer and executive consultant of Huawei Asia Pacific.
“The good thing about this is that ICT can be used in interesting ways to help address the green elements of other industries,” he said at the round table.
Fifth-generation (5G), for example, consumes less energy than 4G and 3G, making a shift to the technology a good way to reduce overall carbon footprint.
“Once we have the connectivity, the cloud services, then we [can further improve] the green economy or green solutions,” Mr. Chen added.
SUPER DEVICE
One of Huawei’s initiatives to enhance connectivity is the new Super Device, an integrated software system unveiled at the Smart Office conference ahead of MWC. This ecosystem will enable PCs or laptops to seamlessly connect to a range of other devices like mobile phones, earbuds, keyboards, mice, and even a laser printer that are connected to a single Wi-Fi network.
“Seamless AI (artificial intelligence) life is Huawei Consumer Business’ next five to 10 years long-term strategy… Our target is to bring you boundless creation and seamless communication,” said Richard Yu, Huawei Consumer Business’ chief executive officer.
Along with this, seven new Huawei devices are now available in the Philippine market. These include MateBook X Pro and MateBook E laptops, the MateStation X desktop, MatePad and MatePad Paper tablets, laser printer PixLab X1, and the Sound Joy speaker.
With Super Device, all of these products would no longer have barriers to interconnection, improving productivity. Features include file access and transfers, use of phone apps via your Huawei laptop and faster pairing with peripherals.
Huawei plans to continue innovating in this space to make business “smarter,” Mr. Yu added.