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By Luís Reis

May 2005 witnessed the deployment of the world's first full performance HSDPA network constructed by Huawei for Portugal Optimus in the Madeira Islands. A few months later, Huawei joined hands again with Optimus in an even greater undertaking - to construct an HSDPA network over Lisbon areas and further deploy over 1000 new-generation NodeBs covering one third of the Portugal mainland in three years.

In less than one year, Huawei achieved remarkable strides across the Atlantic Ocean over 980km from the Madeira Islands to Lisbon. In what aspect did Huawei win Optimus' trust? What has Optimus achieved with its HSDPA network and what is their 3G strategy? With these questions in mind, Mr. Mário Campos interviewed Optimus CEO, Dr. Luis Reis and CTO, Mr. José Pinto Correia at their headquarters in Lisbon.


To Win Market through Innovation

Could you please tell me how about Optimus 3G market benefit? And how does Optimus realize the maximum benefit?

Mr. Reis: I think that we are doing a very good job on the 3G data market with our innovative "kangaroo" product, and a lot of that is due to the fact of the first work to introduce a completely HSDPA-enabled product, which speeds that go now up to 1.8 Megabits.

So, what will Optimus do to improve your competitiveness and market share in Portugal telecommunications market?

Mr. Reis: Well, I think that the key issue in what regards being competitive in the market is many times to be a little ahead of our competitors in introducing new functionalities, new products into the market. And Optimus was able to do that recently, on that is concerned, and a lot of the edge we have gained into the market was driven by the deal with Huawei. Without doubt, we were the first one to introduce in Portugal a full performance HSDPA network and we've launched the very innovative product called "Kangaroo" and that was done in very tight cooperation with Huawei.

With such competitiveness, what's the 3G market objective of Optimus in future?

Mr. Correia: The strategy is to challenge the established norms of the mobile industry namely, in the mobile broadband data services, for that we have to have a network with low latency, high capacity, with a low cost and with IP trait, and for that we have to have a number of functionalities, for instance, HSDPA, it's very good, and it's very fast as well. But it's important to have the HSUPA to improve the uplink, and that the two points are mandatory.

And what are suppliers supposed to do to meet your requirements?

Mr. Correia: Our suppliers have to develop and to supply to us innovative solutions. The idea is that Optimus will be the first, or among the first, operator to have the latest functionalities and the latest techniques, and also to have the best solutions and have lower prices. Our suppliers have some type of strategic partnership with us to help us to be the first to offer the best services at lower prices, it's very important for us.

You know, some operators tend to select just one supplier. However, what's Optimus' consideration on selecting several suppliers to construct the network?

Mr. Reis: Optimus has always a policy to select more than one supplier on our key network components. We think that it's best to have more than one supplier many because having more than one supplier allows us to combine the advantages of many suppliers. For instance, in the current network, we are combining some older, we could call them incumbent on this market , that are a little bit more close to us because they used to be our suppliers previously to this deal. And we are combining them with Huawei which is a new comer, which brings us new things to the table. So in our view, it's important to combine the strengths and also the weaknesses of several suppliers in each piece of our core components.


Mutual Benefit through Cooperation

In what aspects that Huawei attracts you to choose it as your 3G network cooperator? What do you think that makes Huawei superior to others among the bidding vendors?

Mr. Reis: I think that Huawei has a couple of important strengths when compared with other operators. I would specially put an emphasis on the NodeBs. We've evaluated their NodeBs, and from a technological standpoint, their NodeBs come out superior to their competitors for a set of reasons but they have superior functionalities, that was one of key reasons why we selected Huawei's solutions. Also, and coming back to Huawei's strengths. I think that Huawei is very well positioned in the 3G technology, in a set of innovative features. They were, namely with us, they were first ones to bring to us a full performance HSDPA solution. And that was one of the reasons why we selected Huawei.

Mr. Correia: We have chose Huawei because it is the best in a number of points, but it's not cheaper. Maybe one year ago, or two years ago, Huawei has provided some lower-priced solutions than its competitors. But right now, it is all competitive environment; all the suppliers are more or less at the same level. In the OPEX side, Huawei is different. It has a lot of different solutions, like IP-RAN, like the remote NodeB, like the, for instance the lower power consumption and lower dimensions of the equipment that make the OPEX lower into Huawei than the competitors. So in OPEX, it is true that Huawei has some advantages that are important for us.

Mr. Reis: In addition, Huawei's NodeBs are also very well advanced in what HSDPA technologies are concerned. They were already ready for HSDPA phase I, phase II, and even they are ready for HSUPA. So, in that regard to technology, they are very, very advanced pieces of equipment.

How would you comment on the construction capability and 3G network by Huawei?

Mr. Correia: It's very good. In fact, we have no problems in the construction. We have no delays in construction. All the plans were ready in time. Regarding the equipment, Huawei platform for NodeBs and RNCs, they are very stable and flexible, it's very good, and we don't have problems on that.

How do you regard and position the cooperative relationship with Huawei?

Mr. Reis: We position that relationship on a very positive tone. Since the beginning, we've built our relationship with Huawei first on the fixed line, and then we moved that relationships onto the mobile side of our businesses. Since the beginning, Huawei was a very open company, they are very open to our comments, and they react quickly to our demands. And I think that after dealing with Huawei, now for more than two years, we can say that we have a mutual, cooperative and friendly relationship.

What's your prospect on the cooperation with Huawei?

Mr. Reis: I think that our plans are really to continue our relationship with Huawei and to enhance the relationship with Huawei. We have now relations with Huawei, both in our fixed network and in our mobile network. And I believe that we've laid the foundations for a mutual benefit relationship going forward.