China’s largest technology company has released financial results for 2017, and they underscore the fact that Huawei continues to thrive even without access to U.S. markets.
Huawei sold $45 billion worth of equipment and services to carriers in 2017, despite the fact that the U.S. government has told the nationwide carriers not to buy from Huawei because of national security concerns. Nationwide U.S. carriers buy most of their radio equipment from Ericsson, which had total sales of roughly $24 billion last year and from Nokia, which reported total just over $28 billion in revenue for 2017.
Huawei released its annual report the same week that Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai announced that his agency may also restrict Huawei’s access to regional U.S. carriers. Pai to prohibit universal service funds from being used to “purchase or obtain any equipment or services produced or provided by any company posing a national security threat to the integrity of communications networks or the communications supply chain.” The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking came just before a Huawei representative was scheduled to address regional U.S. carriers at the Competitive Carriers Association’s annual trade show.
Huawei’s carrier business is its biggest division, but it is growing more slowly than the others. Revenue was up just 2.5% year-on-year. In contrast, Huawei’s consumer business, with revenue of $36 billion, grew 32% last year, and its enterprise business group, with revenue of $8 billion, grew 35%.
The company’s consumer smartphone business also faces challenges in the U.S. market, where major carriers and at least one big box retailer have recently reversed plans to sell Huawei’s newest flagship smartphone.
Huawei’s invested almost $14 billion in research and development last year, up 17.4% compared with 2016. The company said it has spent more than $60 billion on R&D spend over the past decade, and will invest at least $10 billion a year going forward.
“Opportunities and challenges are popping up faster than ever before, and nonstop open innovation is the only way we can keep ahead of the game,” said Huawei’s rotating chairman Ken Hu in a statement. “Over the next 10 years, Huawei will continue to increase investment in technological innovation, investing more than 10 billion dollars back into R&D every year.”
The post Huawei results show carrier business surpassing rivals appeared first on RCR Wireless News.