Huawei bags 50 commercial 5G contracts worldwide

Despite the ongoing trade war with the US, Chinese conglomerate Huawei on Wednesday said it has nabbed 50 commercial 5G contracts worldwide and shipped more than 150,000 base stations globally till date.

"We already have 50 commercial 5G contracts globally," Huawei Deputy Chairman Ken Hu said during his keynote address at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai.

Out of these 50 contracts, 28 are in Europe, 11 in Middle East, 6 in Asia Pacific, 4 in the Americas and one in Africa, said Hu Huawei said that it has built up, around 5G, a portfolio of over 2,570 patents -- 20% of all 5G patents.

"We have invested over $4 billion in 5G research and development over a period of 10 years," Hu said.

"We started investing in 5G very early. When there was commercial deployment of 5G, we started to invest in 5G," he added.

According to Ryan Ding, Executive Director of the Board and President of the Carrier BG of Huawei, 5G is gaining strong momentum in its commercial adoption.

"Huawei has so far shipped more than 150,000 base stations. Since the first half of this year, a good number of countries, including South Korea, the UK, Switzerland, Italy, and Kuwait, have commercially launched 5G networks, 2/3 of which were constructed by Huawei," Ding said .

Giving example of 5G use cases, Hu said that 5G can make mining safer.

"It is difficult to hire truck drivers for mining activities as the conditions are very tough. With 5G it could be possible to have driverless trucks which can reduce the chances of accidents, while also increasing the speed at which the trucks run," Hu said.

Industries are starting to embrace 5G and 5G is starting to explode into prominence by promoting a comprehensive digital transformation and improving efficiency in many industries. Ding believes that the next wave of 5G focus will be in the enterprise sector, with companies kick starting their industry 4.0 initiatives in an attempt to try and cultivate new revenue streams.

Earlier this month, Huawei, which is the world's largest telecom equipment supplier, signed a 5G development deal with Russia's biggest mobile carrier MTS as it battles the trade ban imposed by the US.

US President Donald Trump has effectively banned Huawei with a national security order. The US publicly asked its allies to steer clear of using Huawei products over concerns that the equipment could be used by the Chinese government to obtain private information. Huawei has always denied the allegations.