China's Huawei Sees Jump in Malaysia Sales
Tue Dec 20, 2005
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - China's top telecom equipment maker, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd [HWT.UL], said it expected revenue from Malaysia to reach $50 million this year, up two-thirds from $30 million in 2004.
Malaysia, Southeast Asia's third-largest economy, is investing heavily in information technology as it seeks new growth areas alongside existing electronics plants and its traditional commodities output.
"Demand for telecommunications infrastructure is driving demand," Zhang Sen, Huawei's country manager in Malaysia, told reporters.
Huawei's clients in Malaysia include Celcom, the mobile phone unit of state-controlled Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TLMM.KL: Quote, Profile, Research), said Victor Wang, Huawei's president and chief executive for the Asia-Pacific region. He declined to give more details.
Enticing users to switch to third-generation (3G) mobile phones with high speed data access is a key way for telecommunications firms like Celcom to grow, as the number of new cellphone users reaches saturation.
Malaysia had 17.5 million cellphone subscribers at the end of September, or two-thirds of the country's 25 million people.
Huawei and Telekom Malaysia have agreed to jointly research and develop solutions to improve high speed Internet connectivity, Wang added.
About 600,000 households now have high-speed Internet access, and the government aims to boost that to 1.3 million homes -- or a penetration rate of roughly 25 percent -- by next year, said Lim Keng Yaik, Malaysia's minister for energy and communications.
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