Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei announced a 30 per cent rise in profit on Monday, in an annual report which also revealed, for the first time, new details about the company's board of directors in an effort to address concerns about lack of transparency in its operations.
Huawei's profit rose to 23.8 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) last year, the company said, driven largely by overseas sales. Sales from overseas markets were up 33.8 per cent from the previous year, on the back of “rapid growth in North America and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)”, as well as Russia.
“Notwithstanding a slowdown in India, Asia Pacific maintained good momentum with breakthroughs in markets such as Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia,” the report said.
While the annual report did not mention the contribution from its India operations, the company said in a statement to The Hindu it had a positive outlook on the India market.
“Given the market situation in India, where 3G and BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) spectrum auctions have recently been accorded to operators, we expect that there will be good traction in the country's broadband growth,” the company said. “Huawei is focussed on the Indian market and expects enterprise solutions and devices to be the new growth engines for Huawei in India in the coming years.”
Huawei recently pledged a $2 billion investment in India over the next five years. The company announced last year it will open up a facility in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, part of a wider effort to increase transparency about its India operations. The company was under the Home Ministry's scanner last year for security reasons.
In Monday's annual report, Huawei for the first time released details about its board of directors. The move appeared to be an attempt to address concerns about perceived secrecy in its operations, which has posed obstacles to the company's efforts to spread its presence in the U.S. and Europe, besides India. Among the list of directors was Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder, who served as a soldier in the People's Liberation Army Engineering Corps until it was disbanded in 1983.
