In a media briefing during its recent Annual General Meeting, Axiata Group has stated that it will continue working with Huawei for the time being. This is despite the on-going ban by the United States government on the Chinese company which has affected Huawei’s relationship with giants such as Google.
The President and CEO of Axiata Group, Jamaludin Ibrahim has stated the ban has no impact on the company just yet in terms of supply, upgrades, or rollouts from Huawei. In fact, Huawei has apparently informed Axiata that it has one year supply of parts, products, and equipment to serve the company.
Huawei has a long-standing relationship with the Kuala Lumpur-based regional conglomerate in both retail segment for the telcos under Axiata’s arm such as Celcom; as well as its role as one of the group’s main equipment provider. Both companies have also collaborated to establish 5G Innovation Hub at Celcom’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya.
Despite that though, the President and CEO of Axiata Group, Jamaludin Ibrahim pointed out that the group has yet to decide the actual supplier for its 5G network at this moment. Confirming Axiata’s current plan to roll out 5G in 2021, Jamaludin further stated that the supplies could come from several companies including Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung as well as Huawei itself.
(Source: The Star. Image: Google Maps / Celcom.)
