Huawei picks UK for European hub

Michael Carroll
15 Apr 2011
00:00

Chinese vendor Huawei is backing its commitment to the UK market with plans to double staff headcount in the country over the next three years.

The firm is seeking 500 additional managers, engineering and sales staff as it bids to shore up its position in the country, which it regards as a key market in plans to grow its global enterprise and device businesses. Both areas are earmarked as significant sources of additional revenues on top of Huawei’s current infrastructure business.

Victor Zhang, chief executive of Huawei UK, says the commitment to the country fits well with the firm’s existing localization strategy. “An increase in employees in our UK office will help us to provide more customized and innovative products…for British telecom carriers, enterprise customers and consumers.”

The UK will also be home to a new breed of European and global centers of excellence focused on consulting, finance and auditing, with the first sites to be established over the next 12 months. Those new facilities build on a cyber security center established by the firm in December.

Huawei’s reassertion of its commitment to the UK – a market where it first established operations in 2001 – is a timely move, with reports in February that the European Commission could probe financial backing for the firm by China’s government.

The vendor’s progress in international markets has been dogged by rumors of links to the Chinese military – something the firm has persistently denied – leading to it launching a PR blitz in the US earlier this year.

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