Chinese telecom equipment and mobile phone maker Huawei has had a mixed bag in India so far. From countering allegations of being an agent of the Chinese intelligence agencies to dispelling the impression of being supplier of cheap telecom gear, the company has had its controversies.

But at the same time Huawei has managed to bag equipment supply deals despite strong European incumbents such as Ericsson and Nokia Solutions and Networks. Business Line spoke with Cai Liqun, CEO, Huawei India, on the company’s game plan.

What are your targets for the Indian market?

By 2017, we want scale up our revenues from India to over $2 billion compared with $800 million now. In 2009, we were already at $2 billion but then the market slowed down. That time most of our revenue was coming from tier-2 and tier-3 operators that were setting up new networks. Now, we are getting revenues from top three operators. Our market share in Bharti, Vodafone and Idea has improved.

What will drive this growth?

In addition to the network business, our two new growth engines are enterprise and mobile device. By 2017, these two will contribute at least a billion dollar in revenue from India. In the device segment, Huawei is growing fast. By 2017, we hope to be among the top 3 players in this country.

Telecom companies have spent billions in acquiring spectrum. How can you help them reduce costs in network roll out?

We have good relationships with Chinese bank so we can introduce our customers if they want some funding.

But more than the financial support, it is our products that help customers reduce costs. We have new products that improve coverage and capacity. I can tell you that until now none of the Indian players have taken any financial support. They have picked Huawei for our technology.

Ericsson and NSN still seem to be having larger market share?

Sometimes in addition to having good products, you also need customers who understand Huawei’s products.

In new technology areas like 4G, Huawei has a big share. In legacy areas like 2G, we do not have much share. So we have opportunity in new tech areas like 3G and 4G.

Has security concerns raised time to time impacted your business in India?

No impact. There are some motivated voices but our customers and Indian Government understand what Huawei is all about. They trust us.

They know our technology. Customers do ask why such concerns are being raised but their business decisions are not based on these concerns.

How will you become No.3 in the mobile device segment when the market is crowded and competitive?

Globally, Huawei is already No. 3 in smartphone segment in 2013. We have Android as main platform but we also support Windows. In India, we will do online sales to improve our share.

Traditional channel cost is much high. We can share this cost with the end users by using online channel.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW