The Star Early Edition

Huawei scoops top award

Chinese company lauded for its innovative wireless solution to get the world connected

- SAVIOUS KWINIKA MTHULISI SIBANDA

HUAWEI has been recognised at the just concluded Internatio­nal Telecommun­ications Union (ITU) 2018 Telecom World awards in Durban for its contributi­ons in accelerati­ng the global penetratio­n of broadband connection­s.

The Chinese group was also lauded for its contributi­on to improving household and enterprise broadband connection­s. It won the Global Corporate Award: Sustainabl­e Developmen­t accolade for its Wireless to the X (WTTx) solution.

The accolade aims to commend innovative technical solutions that improve global ICT indexes and speed up the developmen­t of broadband AFRICAN companies are forecast to increase their informatio­n technology (IT) budgets next year as digital emerges as the leading business priority for local chief informatio­n officers (CIOs).

According to the annual Gartner 2019 CIO Agenda, whose findings were released in Cape Town, CIOs in the continent expect their enterprise IT budget to increase 4.3% on average next year.

This is up from an average of 3.1% increase from the past year.

CIOs in Africa expect to spend the highest amount of new or additional funding next year on business intelligen­ce and analytics (57% of respondent­s), cyber-security (46%) and digital business initiative­s (39%).

CIOs (30%) have ranked digital as the leading business priority.

Business growth (23% of CIOs) was connection­s.

WTTx is a Huawei fixed-wireless broadband access solution. Based on existing mobile networks, WTTx uses Huawei’s device-pipe synergy solution, service management and O&M tools, and innovative QoS differenti­ation technology.

These technologi­es help to provide stable, high-speed broadband access in scenarios such as households, smalland medium-sized enterprise VPN access and wireless verticals.

Fixed broadband access on the mobile network, with the largest population coverage, will slash the costs of broadband deployment and user acquisitio­n, increase revenue, and develop a win-win industry environmen­t for government­s, operators and named second business priority.

Gartner research director Tomas Nielsen said the rankings indicated local CIOs were making digital an integral part of their business strategy and planning.

“They clearly want digital-fuelled growth in 2019,” he said at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo. Digital is not ‘nice’ end users. Qingwen Wang, general manager of Huawei WTTx Domain, said: “It’s a great honour for Huawei’s WTTx solution to be so highly recognised by the ITU.”

He said WTTx could quickly provide basic broadband connection­s, upgrade the rate of existing fixed broadband connection­s and continue to increase data rates.

“Huawei hopes to strengthen WTTx industry co-operation with all its partners to bridge the digital divide and allow more household and individual users to enjoy an optimal WTTx wireless broadband experience.”

According to the State of Broadband 2017, published by the ITU, 53% of people worldwide are connected to the internet. But due to limited to have. It’s mandatory. The investment in digital is increasing, and digital continues to gain currency across the economy in Africa,” Nielsen added.

Among other major findings, while cyber-security is the top digital technology deployment among CIOs in Africa, disruptive technologi­es are reaching a tipping point. investment in ICT infrastruc­ture and payment capability, 66.3% of households remained unconnecte­d.

The home broadband penetratio­n rate was only 42.9% in developing countries and 14.7% in underdevel­oped countries.

Improving home broadband penetratio­n has become one of the top priorities for ICT transforma­tion in all countries. Innovative business models and rapid technologi­cal evolution is required to reduce the home broadband access cost and improve the population coverage rate.

The latest report by data research and consulting business Ovum showed WTTx was deployed on 200 networks in 120 countries to connect more than 50 million households. – CAJ News

Nielsen said the journey into digitalisa­tion would accelerate next year. The 2019 Gartner CIO Agenda Survey gathered data from more than 3 000 CIO respondent­s in 89 countries and all major industries, representi­ng about $15 trillion (R215 trillion) in revenue/ public sector budgets and $284 billion in IT spending. – CAJ News

 ??  ?? Gartner research director Tomas Nielsen. | Mthulisi Sibanda, CAJ News
Gartner research director Tomas Nielsen. | Mthulisi Sibanda, CAJ News

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