Phnom Penh (FN), March 16 -- Huawei addresses the participants of “Digital Cambodia 2019” with a simple message: “We stand ready to bring huge opportunities and contribute to an intelligent, fully connected digital economy in Southeast Asia”.
According to Huawei, a leading global provider of ICT infrastructure and smart devices, the digital economy in Southeast Asia will reach a turning point around 2025, and the scale of the digital economy will triple over the next 7 years. Currently, the number of Internet subscribers in just six ASEAN countries has reached 350 million, more than the US population.
In Cambodia alone, mobile subscribers are now around 20 million, almost 6 times more than 10 years ago. The number of Internet users, including mobile and home broadband users, has increased by more than 1,500 times compared to 6 years ago.
These impressive figures were revealed today in Phnom Penh on the occasion of an ASEAN Ministerial Forum entitled “ASEAN Roadmap to Industry 4.0” held during “Digital Cambodia 2019”, by Mr. Thomas Zhou, Director of Public Affairs and Communication, Huawei Southeast Asia.
The 3-day event, from March 15-17, is a joint initiative by Cambodia’s government and the private sector, aiming to gather all industry stakeholders in IT and ICT ecosystems, and promote a more sustainable entrepreneurship environment in Cambodia to help drive innovation.
Over the past five years, national digital strategies have been introduced by governments across Southeast Asia to accompany the 4th industrial revolution. Under different names such as Cambodia’s Masterplan 2020, Thailand 4.0, Singapore Smart Nation or Smart Digital Malaysia, these strategies share the similar vision of transforming economies into digital ones, connecting SMEs and individuals, and unleashing their potential for innovation.
This vision has resulted in the development of new services and activities, such as online banking, e-government, telemedicine and smart transport services. Southeast Asian countries now stand out as some of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
As it marks this year its 20th anniversary, Huawei Southeast Asia has grown into a leading, globalized ICT vendor that truly contributes to the connectivity of all Southeast Asian countries through leading technologies, as shown by these few examples:
- Huawei Southeast Asia developed over 8,000 ICT talents in 2018 through its OpenLabs, ICT training, scholarships, competitions and “Seeds for the Future” program.
- Huawei Southeast Asia’s third international cloud service center opened in Singapore last month, following Hong Kong and Thailand. The local service centers provide one-stop, full-stack cloud infrastructure that speeds up the digital economy.
- In 2018, Huawei eLTE emergency video communications solutions assisted in the rescue of 13 teenage footballers trapped in a cave in northern Thailand.
- In Bangladesh, Huawei’s digital training bus was able to deliver ICT knowledge to the doorsteps of women in remote villages. By the end of 2018, over 16,200 women had received “education on wheels”.
“In the coming years, we will continue pursuing our vision to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully-connected, intelligent world,” said Thomas Zhou. “We will continuously invest in 5G, broadband, cloud, artificial intelligence and smart devices, to help our customers maximize the benefits of these emerging technologies. We will focus in particular on 5G, which will be one of the most important enablers of upgraded, intelligent national digitalization and serve as its foundation.”
2019 is the year of 5G. As the most important national ICT infrastructure, 5G will provide Southeast Asia with industry opportunities worth 1.2 trillion USD. In the region, the number of 5G subscribers will top 80 million, Internet traffic will increase 5 times, over 20 smart cities are on the way, and wireless, digital and intelligent equipment will boost social productivity by 4–8% on average.
“Looking ahead, we believe 2019 will be another milestone for the drive towards digitalization in Southeast Asia. Huawei, as one of the world's leading ICT vendors, stands ready to work with all countries and customers to achieve their digital visions,” concluded Thomas Zhou.
- About Huawei
Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services – we are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.
Huawei's end-to-end portfolio of products, solutions and services are both competitive and secure. Through open collaboration with ecosystem partners, we create lasting value for our customers, working to empower people, enrich home life, and inspire innovation in organizations of all shapes and sizes.
At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. We invest heavily in basic research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. We have more than 180,000 employees, and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.
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