Chinese telecom giant  Huawei has signed a global commitment to join the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Partner2Connect digital alliance, which will bring connectivity to about 120 million people in remote areas in more than 80 countries by 2025.

Huawei Chairman Liang Hua announced the decision at the company’s 2022 Sustainability Forum.

In his keynote address, Liang Hua emphasised that access to a stable network was a basic requirement and right in the digital age.

Cao Ming, President of Huawei Wireless Solution, stated that Huawei integrates the full-technology innovation potential of equipment, sites, energy, transmission, and antennas to address the difficulties faced by traditional site deployment, such as high costs, restricted transportation, lack of power, and maintenance challenges.

“We have continuously upgraded the RuralStar and RuralLink solutions to extend quality coverage to remote areas, enabling more people, community hospitals, schools, local governments, and small- and medium-sized enterprises to enjoy the same high-speed broadband connectivity experiences as those in cities."

The RuralStar series have provided connections for more than 60 million people in remote areas in more than 70 countries.

On the other hand, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China Siddharth Chatterjee called for “multi-stakeholder partnerships” to close “the sobering reality” of a digital divide, which excluded a third of the global population.

(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)