Huawei's Eric Xu: Pathways for Driving Growth

[Shanghai, China, June 18, 2025] During MWC Shanghai 2025, Eric Xu, Huawei's Deputy Chairman and Rotating Chairman, gave a keynote on pathways for driving growth in the telecoms industry. Xu began his speech by sharing observations about the current status of the telecoms industry. This industry has seen rapid growth during the past four decades and is now experiencing stable development, but carriers are facing challenges to new growth.

Xu proceeded to expand on four potential pathways to growth:

• Ramping up for changes in user needs and meeting new demands with high growth potential
• Boosting HD video supply and consumption through coordinated effort across the ecosystem
• Bringing 5G to every car for new growth in intelligent connected vehicles
• Bringing FTTR to micro and small businesses to make the most of opportunities in AI

"Of course, every carrier is different," concluded Xu. "Their markets are different, their business environments are different – and so is their competitive landscape. So the pathways to growth are different too. Huawei is always ready and willing to work together, helping carriers explore opportunities unique to them and carve out the right pathways to long-term, sustainable growth."

Huawei Rotating Chairman Eric Xu gives a keynote speech on "Pathways for Driving Growth" at MWC Shanghai 2025.

Below is the full text of the speech.

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

I'd like to thank GSMA for inviting me. It's a great pleasure to join you here at MWC Shanghai.

Since the founding of GSMA in 1987, the telecoms industry has experienced rapid growth. These days, though, the industry is in a state of technology oversupply. Basic consumer needs are already met in major markets, and revenue growth is stagnating. Industry development is stable, but carriers are facing challenges to new growth.

Telecoms players are making every effort to explore opportunities for growth and the pathways to get there. So I'd like to take this chance to share several observations, along with four potential pathways for driving growth.

1. Ramp up for changes and meet new demands with high growth potential

The telecoms market is a fairly mature market, but it's not without change. Change is everywhere these days. One feasible pathway for growth is to ramp up for new developments in user needs, building and optimizing networks to provide the right products and services that address these ever-changing needs – especially those with high growth potential. I'll give you two examples.

The first is related to delivery riders and ride-hailing drivers. On a global scale, they are a new, fast-growing group of mobile network users. There were 30 million professional riders in 2020, and 70 million in 2024. This number is estimated to reach 160 million in 2030, accounting for about 5% of the global workforce.

These riders bring a lot of convenience to our lives. For carriers, they are also a new, fast-growing segment of high-value users. Food delivery riders need to call their customers when they complete delivery or when any issues occur. So their minutes of usage, or MOU, is four times that of an average user. In China, the monthly MOU of food delivery riders is 800 minutes. They also tend to spend their downtime watching online videos, so the amount of data they use – their DOU – is twice that of an average user. This means their ARPU is 1.6 times higher.

Another example is livestreamers. It's a new profession that has emerged with the rapid rise of mobile Internet. The world has seen sharp growth in the number of professional livestreamers, up from 10 million in 2022 to 50 million in 2024. By 2030, there will be an estimated 130 million livestreamers, making up about 4% of the global workforce.

Livestreamers are a gateway to new, interesting things around the world – and they also share some of wonderful little things in daily life. They too are a new, fast-growing segment of high-value users for carriers. Strong networks are a must-have for livestreamers. Their DOU is five times that of an average user. In China, livestreamers use as much as 100 GB of data each month, so they generate four times more ARPU compared to an average user.

There are also other new user groups, like esports gamers. New devices like smart glasses and smart toys. And new emerging behaviors, like working on high-speed trains and binge-watching TV shows on the subway. These changes are unfolding rapidly and leading to new demands. For example, demand for diverse services in different locations, demands that are unpredictable, and demand for real-time and ubiquitous connectivity.

If we look at the global market, it's clear that these demands promise high growth potential, and carriers who've met these needs are growing fast. Carriers who haven't ramped up for these needs yet might find it more challenging to achieve new growth.

2. Boost HD video supply and consumption through coordinated effort across the ecosystem

Short-form video is taking flight all over the world. Video makes up about 50% of mobile traffic. But there are still some unresolved challenges related to the supply and consumption of high-definition video. For one thing, some consumers switch to smaller and cheaper data plans if they can't use up their existing data. For another, there is no guaranteed supply of HD video.

The value of HD video is clear. For consumers, it means a better viewing experience. For OTT players, it leads to a higher conversion rate. For carriers, a 1080p video generates five times more traffic than its 360p counterpart. Suppose a user watches 50 hours of 1080p video in a month, they will consume roughly 31.5 GB of data. In China, the average DOU was 18.2 GB in 2024. So there's huge potential out there.

There is also a major gap in HD video consumption. Data from tier-1 cities in China shows that 1080p and higher-definition video accounts for only 22% of total mobile video traffic. There are several causes for this gap. Prices of outbound Internet bandwidth are a bit too high for OTT content providers, so they'll reduce bit rates during peak hours in order to keep their costs down. For carriers, their B2B business is a key avenue for growth, so if they dropped prices for outbound bandwidth, they'd see a drop in their B2B revenue too. Device-wise, playing HD video is power-intensive, and video apps automatically reduce bit rates once a user's battery falls below 30%.

Addressing these multi-faceted challenges requires coordinated effort across the ecosystem.

Carriers need to set reasonable prices for outbound Internet bandwidth and encourage OTT players to increase their supply of HD video. This will boost HD video consumption and help carriers grow their total net revenue. I also think it's worth it for carriers to encourage OTT content providers to provide all videos in 1080p without sacrificing revenue from outbound traffic. Carriers can take a look at how much traffic consumers use and how much it drives up DOU, then measure the costs against the benefits and see what works.

OTT content providers need to increase HD video supply and improve user experience to achieve a higher conversion rate.

At the same time, network equipment vendors need to keep innovating to improve network capabilities and reduce unit bandwidth costs.

And device vendors need to ensure better device experience. They can do this by reducing the power consumption of video apps and prolonging overall battery life.

3. Bring 5G to every car for new growth in intelligent connected vehicles

Bringing 5G to every car is something that both car owners and carriers hope for, but that's not necessarily the case for the carmakers themselves. This is part of the reason why 5G-connected vehicles will only account for an estimated 30% of all cars sold in China in 2025. Carmakers are unwilling to connect cars with 5G, mainly because of the high costs associated with 5G IPR and the high price of T-Boxes. It's our hope that GSMA can play a role in addressing this challenge. It will take a whole-of-industry approach to keep 5G IPR costs for cars within a reasonable range.

Healthy competition between carriers is another key consideration for the market of 5G-connected vehicles. If the price for connecting a vehicle is too low, then the market will be reduced to low margins for everyone.

I'd like to share two thoughts about this.

• Both the car and its cockpit need connectivity, but their connections should be separate to account for disparate needs and business models.
  • In terms of cockpit connectivity, the industry can employ B2C business models and leverage the smartphone ecosystem. Consumers should have the freedom to decide the type of connectivity they want and buy their own data plans.
  • In terms of the car's T-Box connectivity, the industry can employ B2B business models where carmakers decide the type of connectivity.
• When driving autonomously, cars must be able to independently sense their surroundings and make decisions without relying on networks.

4. Bring FTTR to micro and small businesses to make the most of opportunities in AI

The value of Fiber to the Room (FTTR) is already proven in the high-end segment of the home broadband market, where FTTR has effectively boosted ARPU and revenue. In 2025, there is an estimated 75 million FTTR users in China, and 500,000 in other countries. This means there's still massive growth potential.

With FTTR, it's possible for carriers to bring fiber broadband to micro and small businesses, too. All you need is one main fiber cable, a few optical splitters, and sub FTTR terminals for up to 128 rooms. An FTTR solution like this is a good fit for street shops and other micro and small businesses. Right now, these businesses face a range of challenges, such as poor Wi-Fi experience for customers and employees, no guarantee for critical applications (like those for cashiers), a limited number of connections for devices, and lack of O&M support for network faults. This kind of FTTR solution can provide full Wi-Fi coverage over high-speed, low-latency, stable networks.

There are more than 500 million micro and small businesses worldwide. Serving these businesses with FTTR will also unlock new growth opportunities for carriers.

These are four potential pathways that we believe carriers can explore to drive growth. Of course, every carrier is different. Their markets are different, their business environments are different – and so is their competitive landscape. So the pathways to growth are different too. Huawei is always ready and willing to work together, helping carriers explore opportunities unique to them and carve out the right pathways to long-term, sustainable growth.