Huawei highlights the strategic importance of National Broadband at Broadband World Forum in Dubai

Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunication network solutions for operators around the world, was the Diamond Sponsor of the Broadband World Forum MEA 2011, the premier annual broadband event held at Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai from March 14^th to 15^th. At the event, Huawei has recognized broadband penetration as a leading indicator of sustainable growth and national competitiveness and emphasized that the national broadband strategies are the key to shaping up a knowledge-based economy and society. 

Mr. Yi Xiang, President of Huawei Middle East said: “As information consumption continues to increase, the days before we achieve ubiquitous broadband access and bandwidth saturation are numbered. Consumption in the forms of personal storage, security, environment monitoring and control, and personalized communications will become prevalent. As the internet continues to spawn new applications, the internet of things and the internet of vehicles are not far behind. The demand to increase bandwidth and improve broadband experience has posed more and more pressure. A wide-bandwidth and high-performance fiber optic network which can provide affordable and equal access to all citizens has become an efficient approach to address the demand and improve broadband penetration. And this is where the national broadband vision comes in.” 

National Broadband Networks open opportunities not just in relation to telecommunications, broadband and the internet but also for a range of new applications such as e-health, e-education, e-government and e-transport. In addition, it can contribute up to 5 percent of GDP growth to a country. It creates new jobs, encourages investments and opens up huge opportunities for businesses. In the long run, it serves as a facilitator of innovation and digitalization to the society. It is beneficial to all communities by driving a digital economy and diversifying the industry sectors. In a word, national broadband is strategically important for a country to sustain competitiveness in the local and global markets. 

“National broadband initiatives have been taking shape around the world. Statistics show that so far more than 30 countries have made national broadband commitments, reflecting a trend that governments are reshaping the broadband landscape by way of investments or regulations”, added Xiang. 

As a world’s trusted telecom solutions provider and prime partner, Huawei provides end to end National Broadband solutions to global operators and relevant entities and has obtained unique experiences in several world’s pioneer national broadband networks in UK, Singapore and Malaysia, etc. 

In the Middle East, as part of the commitment, Huawei together with Etisalat has built a large-scale commercial Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network in the United Arab Emirates. The GPON FTTH network by Etisalat provides ultra-high speed connection for families and businesses through the use of optical line terminal (OLT) and optical network terminal (ONT). 

As of the end of 2010, Huawei is ranked No. 1 in the global GPON market share and has engaged in more than 85 Global FTTx projects with BT, FT, TI, T-COM, KPN, China Mobile, China Telecom, Etisalat, Qtel, and so on.