Huawei banks AU$368m in Australian revenue

In the year when Huawei's name gained prominence in national discussion, after it was revealed that the Chinese network vendor had been banned from construction of the National Broadband Network (NBN), the company pulled in AU$368 million in revenue from Australia.

In the company's local corporate report, Huawei Australia said it saw a 61 percent year-on-year growth in revenue in 2012 in Australia.

Despite the NBN ban, Huawei reported working with a number of other major telco operators in Australia in 2012, including Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, iiNet, TPG, AAPT, and Primus.

Some of these projects included the overhaul of Vodafone's 2G and 3G networks, the rollout of 4G services, and the launch of smartphones, tablets, and mobile broadband devices.

Australia is a strong revenue growth area for the company; globally, it saw an 8 percent year-on-year growth in revenue in 2012 to US$35.35 billlion. However, Australia's contribution to the total revenue for the company is still minor by comparison to the rest of the world. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa contributed US$12.4 billion in revenue last year, while the US contributed US$5.1 billion. The Asia-Pacific region, which includes Australia, but excludes China, accounted for US$6 billion.

Huawei Australia's chief financial officer Luke Austin said that the results reflected the company's push to become more than just a sales office in Australia.

"Huawei's financial performance in 2012 is a reflection of the company's growth in the Australian market — we're now working with all major Australian operators, and employ over 700 staff in Australia, 85 percent of which are locals," he said in a statement.