Huawei Celebrates 15th Anniversary in Spain
Huawei Spain maintains its firm commitment to training and developing new talent
[Madrid, Spain, December 15th 2016] Huawei Spain celebrated its 15th anniversary in Spain, with an event at the Palacio de Cibeles in Madrid, to thank customers, partners and the industry as a whole for their trust and support.
During the celebration, Huawei highlighted its contribution to Spanish society and the role it has played, and wants to continue playing in the nation’s digital transformation. The event was closed by Alvaro Nadal, Spain’s Minister of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda and chaired by Guo Ping, Deputy Chairman of the Board and Rotating CEO of Huawei. Also attending was Vincent Pang, Huawei’s President of Western Europe.
During his welcome speech, Guo Ping said: “This is a very special night for us. When we decided to enter the European market 15 years ago, we had to make a serious effort. In Spain, we only had three employees in Madrid and, suddenly, a Spanish telecommunications services provider trusted us. 15 years later, we are proud of this journey: 15 years fostering the digital transformation of Spain, where we are committed to employment creation. Today we already have more than 1,000 employees in Spain and have created 2,000 indirect jobs. In addition, in the next five years we will increase by 50% the number of our employees in the country. We have a long way ahead.”
Guo Ping also announced that starting in 2017, Huawei Spain will mark, the annual charity concert ‘Innovation Clef', that collects funds for Spanish non-profit organizations that promote education projects within the ICT sphere or are devoted to bridging the digital divide.
Lyu Fan, the People's Republic of China’s Ambassador in Spain, declared his wish for, “Huawei to continue growing in the Spanish market, offering state-of-the-art technologies to Spanish citizens, and working with its customers, partners, suppliers and employees for the creation of a better connected Spain.”
Alvaro Nadal, Minister of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda, said: "Thanks to companies like Huawei it is possible to advance in a digital society, like Spain. The collaboration of the government with technology partners like Huawei is fundamental to be able to develop new solutions."
15 years building a better connected Spain
In the last 15 years, Huawei has developed its three business lines (Carrier, Consumer and Enterprise) and has become a strategic partner for the digital transformation of Spain. In regards to the area of the Carrier Business Group, Huawei has consolidated itself in Spain as a trusted networks infrastructure supplier for all service providers: Telefónica, Vodafone, Orange and MásMóvil, as well as other local or specialized service providers (virtual, mobile or cable operators).
For the Consumer Business Unit, Spain has become a top-priority market, where its flagship products have been launched. The commercialization of Android smartphones started in the Spanish market in 2010, and since then has developed at a fast pace, reaching the figure of two million devices sold in 2015, and allowing Huawei to be the second largest manufacturer in terms of smartphones sales in the country, a position it has held since May 2015.
Finally, the Enterprise business has achieved a strong market position with the development of a consolidated channel ecosystem and has opened new offices in Galicia, the Basque Country, Andalusia and Valencia. It has also become a key driver of the digital transformation of public and private companies in Spain, thanks to its wide portfolio of vertical solutions. As such, Huawei has become a key supplier of ICT solutions in the financial, industry, transport and energy sectors, and already has 200 partners in the Spanish market.
Commitment to Spain
Huawei Spain maintains a firm commitment to training staff in new technologies, in order to develop talent in this area and improve the employment of young people, creating real work opportunities for them. With the programs included in its corporate social responsibility strategy ‘Creating Opportunities Through Education’, Huawei has trained more than 20,500 Spaniards over the last five years.
As part of this training, Huawei established a scholarship program in China in July 2013 called ‘The Future of ICT’, which has, since its first edition in July 2013, seen 60 engineering students work and learn at Huawei’s company headquarters in Shenzhen and be trained in new technologies. In addition, in order to contribute to education in new technologies in Spain, in 2014 Huawei started a project called ‘Leading the LTE Age’, in collaboration with Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, which saw the participation of 62 students in its postgraduate course.
As a sample of Huawei’s commitment to promoting training in state-of-the-art technologies, the company has established the ‘UNED-Huawei Cloud Computing and Big Data Chair’ in collaboration with Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, in which 373 students have been already trained. Finally, regarding building awareness of responsibly and securely using new technologies, Huawei has been heavily involved in the ‘Smartbus, Get on the Future Generation’ program. This initiative, started with the support of the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Society in Spain via Red.es, has highlighted to 13,000 young people and 6,000 adults the risks that young people face when they use social networks.
As a sample of the strong involvement of the company in the development of the Spanish digital economy and the digital transformation of the country, in 2015 Huawei signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with the Spanish Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Society to promote the digital economy and foster training in new technologies. Also in 2016, Huawei signed a collaboration agreement with the Cybersecurity National Institute INCIBE (“Instituto Nacional de Ciberseguridad”) where both organizations are committed to working together to help foster cybersecurity improvements in Spain. This MoU is the first one like this signed by Huawei in Europe.
