Mr. Chen Mingliang, is CEO of Huawei Technologies Ethiopia PLC. He specialized in sales, customer communication, with strategic mindset. He has worked in China for nearly 10 years, with extensive experience in customer sales, business, and team management.

He joined Huawei in 2011 and first worked as an account manager in Wuhan, China. In 2016, he was appointed as director of the Shaanxi Mobile Account Dept, responsible for the sales to China Mobile Shaanxi subsidiary. While China Mobile is one of the three operators in China. In May 2020, he came to Ethiopia and was appointed as CEO of Huawei Technologies Ethiopia PLC.

Currently, he is in charge of the entire business of Huawei Technologies Ethiopia PLC.

Headquartered in Shenzhen, Huawei first entered the crawling Ethiopian telecom market twenty years ago. Its patented networks and the accelerated pace of enterprises' digital transformation helped Huawei to settle in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). We are looking forward to expanding our success in countries like Ethiopia soon.

Currently, Chen is aligning Huawei's long-term plans with Ethiopia's development plans. Excerpts;

Recent reports indicate Huawei is moving its regional office from DRC to Ethiopia. Is this correct? What kind of projects does Huawei have currently in Ethiopia?

That is incorrect, as we already have a big office in Addis Ababa, with over 200 personnel.

There is no plan, now or in the future, to move our regional office from DRC to Ethiopia. Wherever we are, our main goal is to support our customers who represent our main focus at this time. In Ethiopia, we are committed to helping the country succeed in expanding the market by contributing with innovative solutions adapted to the Ethiopian economy and the Ethiopian population's needs. With our 2-decade long experience in Ethiopia, we will work and continue to be the leading ICT equipment and service provider in Ethiopia.

What are the business projects Huawei is currently running in Ethiopia?

Currently, we have Carrier Network Business Group with Ethio Telecom; and with other companies mainly on Enterprise Business Group.

We also have projects with the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT), the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE), and other governmental departments.

Recently we have been working in partnership with Ethio telecom to deploy the wireless network in Addis Ababa, another project is the optical transport network.

Ethiopia imports almost all telecom equipment. Does Huawei consider installing a telecom equipment manufacturing plant locally?

Huawei's main investment in the Ethiopia market has been to transfer its know-how, therefore enabling the ICT ecosystem to boom is our main investment area in Ethiopia. This will create a win-win situation for everyone.

So far the building of this ecosystem has been a success. Main local firms are engaging in the upstream and downstream market of Huawei products such as tower, fiber, civil work construction and integration. Huawei has partnered with Ethiopia to become the leading networking infrastructure provider in the country, but we have no intention of taking the whole market. We will continue to support the digitalization of Ethiopia, alongside other domestic companies as well as other foreign companies.

Many other ICT companies are needed to build the digital ecosystem in Ethiopia. The digital ecosystem is the collaboration of many telecoms, ICT, software, networking and device companies.

Huawei is the leading company in the 5G era. How does Huawei perceive 5G in general and see its future in Ethiopia?

5G is the buzz words today. But many people do not know the exact definition of 5G. 5G does not only dramatically improve the mobile network quality but also connects each individual, machine to the digital world. The 2G, 3G, 4G are used mainly for the individual connection, but 5G connects all the industries. Huawei is patented and the leading 5G provider and we have a bigger share in the global market. Our philosophy is working with every stakeholder to make the country can benefit from 5G when the time comes.

In Ethiopia, Huawei contributed to change the life of over 48 million people over the past 20 years. The opening up of telecom sector will help us to build upon our base in this country. We are already participating in the 4G infrastructure development in Ethiopia. Once the infrastructure foundation and regulations frameworks mature, Huawei is willing to support Ethiopia market and People with the best technologies to improve life in the country in accordance with sustainable development goal of the UN.

What are the opportunities partial privatization could bring to Huawei? Is it liberalization or partial privatization of the telecom sector that is more viable for developing countries such as Ethiopia? What are Huawei's plans in Ethiopia?

Huawei is happy to see that the Ethiopian government published the Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda as well as the Digital Ethiopia 2025 strategy. We strongly believe that opening up and promoting competition will bring benefits both to operators and consumers. A multi-operator telecom market is a global practice. It is the most common market status and a mature policy in most developed and developing countries. Our vision is clear: to connect people and bring digital benefits to everyone. Together with all the stakeholders in the value chain, we accelerate the reach of the sustainable development goals of the country.

What is your five- or ten-years plan?

We have worked in Ethiopia for the last 20 years and we continue working with the development plans of the country, in the long future. We will align our future plans with the plans of the country.

We are analyzing the economic reform, Digital Ethiopia 2025 and (Ten Years Perspective Plan (TYPP) targets in Ethiopia. So that we will come up with our own business plans.

How did you find the market in Ethiopia, when you came to Ethiopia first?

This country has a very big population which means every big market potential. The reforms, economic open-ups, and developments we see in Ethiopia are creating more business opportunities for investors. This country will become a bigger market.

There are a substantial number of Chinese firms and people operating in Ethiopia and other African countries. Do you have any digital transaction platform for them?

Huawei will be playing a crucial role in the digital payment technologies in this country, for all kinds of customers. We need to have a solid foundation to provide such a digital transaction platform, such as reliable broadband connection, stable power supply and prudent financial system are all the required foundation to have a full-fledged functionality of digital transaction platform.

Ethiopia invested substantially in telecom infrastructure. Do you think it is enough? What do you think are the reasons for the poor connection?

The insufficiency of network quality is attributed to many complicated factors related to network performance. Any country must have a stable power supply to have an efficient network. There are many other factors, from a technical point of view. Even the safety and stability of the community affect the performance of the network stations. Despite all the odds, we hope the network performance will improve in the near future.

Do you think the existing Ethio telecom infrastructure can accommodate two new operators? How much investment does it take to provide 4G at full scale? Can you estimate the value of Ethio telecom?

From economic theory, sharing infrastructure is a win-win solution for both existing operators and newcomers. From a technical perspective, to improve this collaboration, the current infrastructure will be modified and upgraded. Estimating the amount to invest is rather complex from a vendor's point of view and we've never operated a whole network. Meanwhile, multiple factors influence the amount of the investment: macro-economy, local labor cost, level of education of the customer... These factors are difficult to quantify. Regarding the evaluation, we will leave this question to professional auditing companies and trust their expertise.

What do you think are the reasons for Mobile Money to emerge in Ethiopia?

Ethiopia cannot just emulate other country's experience. Mobile money varies in each country because each has a different policy and development ecosystem. Mobile money development highly depends on the policy approach of each country.

What do you think lacks to create fluent Fintech industry in Ethiopia?

The government of Ethiopia is already working on the gaps in Financial technologies, which is well mentioned in the Digital Ethiopia 2025 strategy. We believe Huawei will play a crucial role in the fulfillment of the gaps.

How is the trade war between China and the USA affecting marketing strategies for Huawei in developing countries? In which market segment does Huawei plan to capitalize in developing countries - telecom infrastructure development or selling the electronic devices?

Huawei is a private company wholly owned by its employees. We are open to dialogue and collaboration with all countries committed to bridging the digital divide and to enable their people to access the benefits of ICTs for development and growth. At Huawei, our vision is to bring digital life to everyone, to every home, and to every organization everywhere. Last year, despite the pandemic and other global difficulties, we had positive growth. We focus on the future, with developments including AI and cloud computing, making next-generation electronic consumer devices available and affordable for more customers.

In which African countries does Huawei have a strong presence and revenue? Both telecom networking and device development are usually in continuous dynamism of evolvement. How much does Huawei spend on research and development per year?

At Huawei, we have built a long and strong relationship with telecom operators all over Africa and beyond. We have been a partner of trust and growth in Africa for more than 20 years now. We are currently present in almost every African country. We deeply believe in the potential of all African countries to achieve the digital leapfrog. In order to fulfill our ambitions, we spend a big amount of our annual revenues on research and development. More than 96,000 of our staff members worldwide are dedicated to R&D. This is one of our strengths. Education is also one of our priorities and has led to the creation of the Seeds for the Future program. In Ethiopia, the program is organized by Huawei and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE) to select 10 outstanding student representatives from Ethiopian universities. The students can visit China for study and cultural exchange. Until 2020, four sessions had been successfully held and we have partnered with 34 universities in the country. We also have a joint innovation program with Ethio telecom, and we give skill training to our customers continually. To us, human capital is the best investment to provide a bright future for both the private and public sectors in Ethiopia, in the region, and in the African continent.

How much is the market share of Huawei smartphone products in Ethiopia? Is it shipping smartphones from China or assembling locally that achieves higher profitability?

Currently, Huawei doesn't have an official sales business of consumer goods including mobile phones and wearables in Ethiopia, thus we don't have this data. As for today, our phones are produced and assembled in China, nevertheless, Huawei regularly examines its development potential according to the opportunities available.

What kind of new values do you think the telecom liberalization could bring to Ethiopia?

Not only the telecom operators, but the entire ICT industry will see a significant boom. According to studies, a 20pct increase in ICT investment will expand the GDP of a country by 1pct. We estimate that the digital economy will grow to account for 25pct of global GDP by 2025, up from the current 15pct. The modernization of the telecom sector in Ethiopia will boost the ICT industry, which in turn will enable many other industries.

How do you evaluate the demand for digital transactions in Ethiopia and the telecom service?

Ethiopia is on track to meet the Ten-Year Development Plan requirements. Our digital world has changed many people's lives, revolutionizing our societies like never before. One thing we've learned from the pandemic is the exponential rise of online trading. With more than 100 million inhabitants, Ethiopia has huge potential. From our point of view, Huawei should be a participant in the digital transactions platform. However, in order to have full-fledged digital transactions, we must build solid foundations. This project includes a broadband connection, data centers, and power supplies. We also need to develop a secure financial system and accompany the digital revolution with dedicated policies.

Do you think there is stiff competition between Chinese and Western telecom companies in Ethiopia?

We believe that competition is healthy in a globalized economy, both for companies that have to go beyond the limits of innovation, and for customers who benefit from ever more advanced and accessible products. No matter their country of origin, all companies should invest more in R&D and create the most advanced technology with the highest quality standards, to persuade their customer and win the deal.

Copyright Huawei. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source News Service English