After a recent U.S. ban which effectively closed the lucrative American market for Huawei, the Chinese tech company is expected to further expand its business and make new breakthroughs in Russia, Global Times writes.
According to Huawei’s chief Digital Transformation Officer Edwin Diender, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment producer has become the most active supplier in Russia’s business-to-business (B2B) online bidding.
In the past six years, Huawei has participated in 550 telecommunications equipment bidding events organized by large Russian telecommunications companies, a recent survey showed.
The Russian market has a positive attitude toward Huawei as well, with smartphone sales rising in Russia while other brands’ sales are falling this year, according to media reports.
Huawei captured the top spot in the Russian smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2018 with a share of 28 percent, while Samsung’s share was 26 percent and Apple’s was 11 percent, Counterpoint reported in February 2019.
Huawei has also passed technology inspections to sell up to 25 billion Russian rubles ($384 million) worth of equipment to Russian network provider MTS.
Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times on Thursday that Russia has great demand for telecommunications technology and equipment. Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE are all doing well there.
“To cooperate with Chinese companies seems to be a better choice for Russian companies, because these companies have a technology advantage,” Xiang said.
China and Russia are planning to sign bilateral deals in various areas during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Russia from June 5 to 7.
