Huawei says applying 5G technology to business was more difficult than expected

SHANGHAI — Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou stated Wednesday that making use of 5G expertise to business was tougher than she had anticipated.

One of the expectations for 5G connectivity is that past sooner cell phone connections for particular person shoppers, the expertise can higher allow self-driving automobiles and manufacturing unit automation.

Meng stated the challenges of bringing 5G to business was underestimated and that it is fully completely different than earlier 2G, 3G or 4G generations. She stated solely when 5G turns into a part of the ecosystem can or not it’s attainable to appreciate operations at scale.

Meng was talking at a keynote session on the Shanghai Mobile World Congress on Wednesday, the place she spoke broadly about the advantages of 5G to consumption and the economic system.

The Chinese smartphone maker has sought to promote cloud providers to particular industries reminiscent of mining and finance.

The firm broke out figures for its cloud computing business for the primary time in 2022, and stated income for the unit got here in at 45.3 billion Chinese yuan ($6.25 billion) final 12 months.

“When you compare MWC Shanghai and MWC Barcelona [earlier this year], one interesting aspect is you find a lot of the case studies are universal, global,” stated Winston Ma, writer of “The Digital War: How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace.”

Speaking on the sidelines of Shanghai MWC, he stated Chinese firms’ must compete may spur better adoption of 5G.

“So I think the Chinese companies are probably more ready, are more willing to test new 5G applications,” stated Ma, who can also be an adjunct professor of regulation at New York University.

“But of course there will be barriers for whatever industry, especially for the traditional industries, they have their existing ecosystem.”

Last 12 months, Huawei noticed its largest annual decline in revenue since 2011as U.S. sanctions hit its business and China’s Covid-19 controls weighed on the native economic system.

In May 2019, the Trump administration put Huawei on a blacklist that restricted U.S. firms from promoting expertise to the Chinese firm because of nationwide safety issues. Huawei has denied it poses such a menace.

The U.S., U.Ok. and Australia, have additionally banned Huawei from working of their 5G networks. Earlier this month, a high EU official known as for extra members of the bloc to take action. Germany is among the many international locations that haven’t but restricted Huawei from its native 5G community.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, returned to China in 2021 — after about almost three years of being detained in Canada on the request of the U.S. In addition to being Huawei’s CFO, she can also be deputy chairwoman of Huawei’s board and rotating chairwoman.

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal and Ryan Browne contributed to this report.