X
Business

Huawei's enterprise business helps lift sales by 19 percent YoY

Despite continued hostile exchanges with the Australian, British, and US governments, Huawei Technologies has reported an increase in revenue and profit for the first half of 2014.
Written by Aimee Chanthadavong, Contributor

Huawei Technologies announced on Monday it lifted sales revenue year-on-year by 19 percent for the first half of 2014 to 135.8 billion yuan (US$21.88 billion).

Huawei chief financial officer Cathy Meng said the revenue and profit for the first half of 2014 are in line with company's expectations, and believes its efforts in the enterprise business have "begun to pay off" where the company has "enjoyed accelerated growth" in this area.

"Driven by increasing investments in LTE networks worldwide, Huawei has further solidified its leadership position in mobile broadband. Rapid growth in software and services helped maintain steady growth in our carrier network business," she said in a statement.

Meng also said the company has achieved "quality and sustainable growth" in its consumer business, attributing the increase to brand awareness and a bump in global sales of smart devices.

"Our flagship smartphone, the Ascend P7, is being sold in more than 70 countries and regions," she said. "We are confident that in 2014 we will achieve sustainable growth, robust operations, and healthy financials."

In March, the Shenzhen-based company reported it achieved its business targets for 2013 and expects to report an 8.6 percent climb in revenue to 239.03 billion yuan (US$38.19 billion), from 220.2 billion yuan in 2012.

Eric Xu, Huawei's rotating and acting CEO, said at the time that "favourable global macroeconomic and industry environment" helped boost the company's revenue.

"Our significant global presence has helped us achieve stable and continuous growth in the carrier network, enterprise, and consumer businesses," he said.

Looking ahead, Huawei said it aims to remain committed to "open innovation and cooperation, creating greater value for our customers, advancing the ICT industry, and ultimately contributing to the building of a better connected world".

This is despite the fact that the Chinese network vendor continues to remain banned by the Australian federal government to participate in the National Broadband Network. The ban was put in place by the former Labor government on the advice of Australia's national security agencies over concerns about the company's alleged links to the Chinese government.

The company has also been caught up in similar hostile exchanges with the British and US government. Earlier this year, Huawei dismissed the UK government's ban on its video conferencing equipment over concerns that the vendor had links to the Chinese government, saying it was "misleading" and based on "inaccurate" information.

Huawei initially won a contract by British Telecom to rollout networking equipment for Britain's national infrastructure in 2005, but UK government departments, including the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, and Crown Prosecution Service, were reportedly instructed to stop using the systems during internal meetings amid concerns they could be embedded with tapping devices.

The US government has also long accused Huawei of spying on US companies on behalf of its government, in which US companies have previously been urged to boycott using its products. Despite this, COO for enterprise in the US, Jane Li, confirmed in January the Chinese networking equipment maker was still engaging partners and customers in the market about its products and response had been "extremely positive", and that the company was "not leaving" the country.

Editorial standards