Chinese telecommunications infrastructure company Huawei has added Communications Minister Steven Joyce to the list of speakers for its Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) Technology Day.Huawei said the event is designed to support the government's $1.35 bill
Chinese telecommunications infrastructure company Huawei has added Communications Minister Steven Joyce to the list of speakers for its Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) Technology Day.
Huawei said the event is designed to support the government’s $1.35 billion UFB initiative.
Other speakers already confirmed for the September 17 Auckland conference include Crown Fibre Holdings chief executive Graham Mitchell, Crown Fibre Holdings CTO John Greenhough, and David Storrie, chief executive of Singapore’s Nucleus Connect (the company rolling out fibre services across Singapore, using Huawei equipment).
In July, prime minister John Key - recently returned from the Shanghai World Expo, where Huawei featured - told TVNZ Q&A host Guyon Espiner that the Chinese company could potentially play "a major role" in the Crown fibre roll-out.
"No one's saying they would be the final selected partner in New Zealand but they've certainly got the capacity if they wanted to," Mr Key said.
Huawei spokesman Luke Coleman told NBR that the Chinese company is not looking to make any direct investment, or pitch for UFB business in New Zealand per se. But it has held talks with major bidders, angling to be their main supplier if they win.
It already has considerable presence. Huawei is 2degrees' main technology partner for its mobile network, and Vodafone's key supplier for its landline "Red Network" local loop unbundling project.
The company's operations span from fibre optic networks to mobile network infrastructure to handsets.
