Huawei to add 200 Vic employees
Huawei will create at least 200 new ICT jobs in Victoria, the state's Premier John Brumby and Huawei global CEO Ren Zhengfei announced at the Shanghai World Expo on Saturday.
"Huawei's expanded operations in Melbourne will build on Victoria's world-class ICT research and development capabilities, which include the Australian Synchrotron, the National ICT Australia Victoria Research Laboratory and the new Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications," Brumby said in a statement.
The China-based telecommunications manufacturer and networking product provider already has a team of 200 employees based in offices at Sydney and Melbourne, up from just 20 four years ago.
"We have grown from a team of 20 to over 200 staff in just four years, and now we will significantly expand our Victorian operations by creating 200 new jobs," said Huawei Australia CEO Guo Fulin.
Huawei will assist in the research and development of next-generation broadband in Victoria and wants to have a hand in the National Broadband Network too. "Huawei is also in discussions regarding further strategic investments in Victoria to support the roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN)," Fulin said.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the Melbourne-based Institute of Broadband Enabled Society (IBES) in January this year, which will see Huawei provide the facility with Ethernet switches, GPON access network hardware for fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) roll-outs, Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing transmission equipment as well as Huawei's universal network management system (NMS).
"As part of its MoU, Huawei has provided a range of equipment allowing IBES to construct an FTTP testing facility to trial future broadband application," Brumby said.
"This testing facility further demonstrates Victoria's position as a leading global location for high-end ICT research, especially in the field of telecommunications. No other city in Australia has the telecommunications capability and skilled workforce to take full advantage of the NBN when it is rolled out."
(Front page image credit: Sculpture of Dragon image by d. Fuka, CC BY-SA 2.0)