Huawei signs global ITU pledge to help 120 million people in remote areas connect to the digital world

Huawei has signed a global commitment to join the International Telecommunication Union’s Partner2Connect digital alliance, which will bring connectivity to about 120 million people in remote areas in more than 80 countries by 2025.

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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.

Speakers at the event 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.
“It is clear connectivity alone is not enough. 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,” said ITU Deputy Secretary-General Malcolm Johnson. “Thank you to Huawei for their support of the Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition, and for their announced P2C pledges in the key areas of rural connectivity and digital skills.”

The Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commissions, Professsor Umar Garba Danbatta, applauded Huawei Nigeria for the sustained effort over the years in bridging the digital divide with innovative solutions to ensure that all connect the unconnected. Through NCC’s initiatives, “by September 2022, active mobile users connection have reached over 150million from 90million in 2015, moreover active mobile voice subscribers have increased from 150million in 2015 to over 200million as at September 2022”. This achievement was made through the sustained collaborative effort of all stakeholders from policy makers to international organizations and innovative providers. He also highlighted the importance of providing an innovative infrastructure solutions to facilitate mobile network especially to disadvantaged areas, one of such solutions is “the award winning Huawei Rural Star Solution” which has been made possible by NCC’S effective regulations regime and various initiatives.

NCC is driving effective implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and strategy 2020-2030 and the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 to drive the coverage of rural development in underserved communities through reduced cost of rural services and improved digital literacy and skill all in a bid to enable communities transform, reduce poverty by educating and upscaling the youth, creating jobs and improving lives.

Cao Ming, President of Huawei Wireless Solution, said: “As an enterprise with the most complete ICT capabilities, 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. We have continuously upgraded the RuralStar and RuralLink solutions to extend quality coverage to remote areas, enabling 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”.
The RuralStar series solutions have provided connections for more than 60 million people in remote areas in more than 70 countries.

The construction of optical broadband networks offers another important route to realizing a universal service. Huawei has proposed an innovative AirPON solution for areas with low population density, including remote areas. This solution continuously reduces the footprint of equipment rooms, optical fiber installation costs, and network power consumption, while ensuring the rapid deployment of local communication networks.

In Africa alone, Huawei has laid more than 250,000 kilometers of optical fibers, enabling 30 million households to access high-speed broadband. User experience has seen constant improvement. The average speed of home broadband already exceeds 30 Mbit/s, bringing smarter, faster, and smoother home network experience.

As ICT infrastructure continues to evolve, innovative technologies like cloud and AI are allowing those in rural and remote areas to enjoy the convenience of a digital world. Huawei Cloud has proposed the Everything as a Service strategy and made Huawei’s more than 30 years of technical expertise and digital transformation experience available through cloud services. This means that access to Huawei’s digital infrastructure capabilities on the cloud is now just as easy, affordable, and sustainable as water and electricity.

Digital transformation, digital talent, and new business models are all essential for balanced development in remote regions. Huawei previously announced that by 2025, with the improved ICT infrastructure, the company will work with partners to enable 500 million people to enjoy digital financial services and 500,000 people to enjoy inclusive education.
Huawei is committed to inclusive development. Through its ongoing technological innovation, Huawei is contributing to a higher level of digitalization in remote regions, enabling everyone to enjoy the convenience of a digital life, and promoting the balanced development of the global digital economy.