Huawei defies US ban with rising revenues in third quarter

Despite its much-publicised battle with the US government, Huawei has reported a 24.4% year-on-year increase in revenues at the end of its third quarter, generating revenue of $85.67bn, with a net profit margin of 8.7%.

The Chinese telecoms equipment giant attributes the growth to maintaining its focus on ICT infrastructure and smart devices, which it says has contributed to increased operational and organisational stability and solidified the company’s performance in the first three quarters of 2019.

In the consumer business, and despite the strong political headwinds in the quarter, smartphone shipments in the first three quarters of 2019 exceeded 185 million units, representing a year-on-year increase of 26%. The company also saw rapid growth in other new businesses , including PCs, tablets, wearables and smart audio products.

In the carrier business, Huawei noted that it had gained from the increased speed of commercial deployment of 5G networks and said that, to date, it has signed more than 60 commercial contracts for 5G with leading global carriers and shipped more than 400,000 5G Massive MIMO active antenna units (AAUs) to global markets. It said production and supply of its optical transmission, data communications and IT products have also grown steadily.

By the end of the third quarter, more than 700 cities, 228 Fortune Global 500 companies and 58 Fortune Global 100 companies had selected Huawei as their partner for digital transformation, the company said. The Huawei mobile services ecosystem now covers more than 170 countries and regions, attracting over 1.07 million registered developers worldwide.

On top of the strong third quarter, Huawei received a fillip from Germany, where the government decided not to adopt a supplier-specific approach to essential telecoms equipment purchases.

Victor Zhang, president of global government relations at Huawei Technologies, said: “Huawei’s third-quarter results demonstrate that consumers, telecoms operators and European policy-makers continue to choose Huawei based on the efficiency and high quality of our products and services.

“Separately, we also welcome the German government’s decision this week on the outline of its 5G deployment plans. By driving competition and creating a level playing field for all 5G network vendors, Germany is ensuring consumers and businesses will benefit from high security standards and an advanced digital economy.”