Rabat – Chinese tech giant Huawei held its global and regional annual report conferences on Friday, with Vice President of Public Relations for the Mediterranean and North Africa Adnane Ben Halima outlining the company’s strategy in Africa.

The company reported more than $5 billion in net profit in 2022, with the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region being its second largest in terms of revenue, only behind China.

With Africa undergoing a digital transformation both in terms of individual citizens and enterprises and governments, Huawei is poised to play a vital role in assisting that transition, having already positioned themselves as a key player in the continent.

Implementation of 5G

Speaking on the process of implementing 5G connectivity in Africa, Ben Halima explained that mobile service providers need to first obtain 5G operating licenses from their governments.

Once said licenses are obtained, the providers can start constructing the necessary infrastructure, with Huawei being one of the leading global providers of networking infrastructure.

Before actually implementing 5G services, however, governments and companies need to evaluate whether they actually need the technology. “We don’t want to have it just to have it,” Ben Halima said.

According to him, if 4G networks are not already congested, the upgrade may not be necessary. But that’s not the only question to consider.

The penetration of 5G capable phones in the market is another factor to take into account. “What is the point of the infrastructure if there aren’t devices that can use it?” Ben Halima said.

He added that a 5% penetration rate would be enough for the technology to catch on and develop naturally, but that a lower rate would not be enough to implement the infrastructure. The increasing affordability and availability of 5G phones should also help with reaching that target.

Companies might also have to reckon with local licensing and regulation specifics. Those can differ from one country to the other, but are also instrumental in determining the risk factor of starting a 5G service.

The last question to consider, according to Ben Halima, has to do with whether the country’s ecosystems and industries are in any real need of 5G technology. The technology would only be worth it if it can meaningfully improve user experiences, he said.

Last year, Huawei expressed a commitment to 5G technologies and industrial digitization in North Africa.

Speaking at the North Africa Com digital event in July 2022, Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei Carrier BG Philip Song said some regions can leapfrog 4G and benefit directly from 5G technologies.

With many African countries trying to leapfrog the usual development models by jumping straight to renewable energies or 4.0 industry ecosystems, 5G communication technology can be another sector to apply that.

Other priorities

Artificial intelligence (AI) was another area of discussion, with Ben Halima pointing out that Huawei has already been using AI for various purposes, such as dynamically changing traffic on websites.

The company’s global conference similarly boasted its success in AI, specifying the contributions of their Kunpeng and Ascend processors.

“Kunpeng features general-purpose computing capabilities while Ascend targets AI computing capabilities,” the company said, also noting its AI implementations in Huawei Cloud and other programs.

AI and machine learning have been cited as new and growing technologies that can help African countries in their leap to industry 4.0.

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Ben Halima also spoke on allegations of espionage against Huawei. He called them “unfounded rumors” aimed at discrediting the company, adding that there has yet to be a serious problem with Huawei’s privacy commitments despite more than three billion people using their networks worldwide.