The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chinese tech giant Huawei that will see African countries and organizations build capacity for ICT transformation. Under the agreement, Huawei will provide training on skills development, including reskilling and upskilling for ATU members.
Huawei
The MoU will also see the two organizations collaborate to support local innovation, share information on the latest trends, challenges and solutions in Africa and globally, and expand the digital economy as well as rural connectivity, in the continent, through furthering research.
According to a 2019 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on digital economies, Africa and Latin America together account for less than 5 percent of the world’s data centres. If left unaddressed, the report concluded, divides will worsen existing income inequalities. This, coupled with the fact that in the least developed countries (LDCs), only one in five people use the Internet as compared with four out of five in developed countries, is part of the motivation for the Huawei-ATU partnership.
“Huawei has transformed connectivity and made a major contribution to the continent through its investments in digital infrastructure, ICT skills, environmentally-friendly connectivity solutions, and cutting-edge technologies for rural areas,” says John Omo, Secretary-General of the ATU, speaking during the signing ceremony held yesterday in Nairobi, Kenya at the ATU headquarters.
“The organization is a trusted development partner of Africa. The document we are signing today aims at strengthening this partnership.”
“Africa has a tremendous opportunity to fully grasp the potential from new technologies,” he added.
Huawei and ATU Seek to Boost African Countries, Regulators and Citizens
The two organizations have a long history of working together and the ATU believes this new agreement will support African countries, regulators, and citizens in benefitting from the transition to a digital economy, adopting new technologies, promoting secure and resilient networks, and gaining the digital skills necessary to drive their economies forward.
“The ATU is playing a critical role in the region supporting member countries with their policies and strategies, sharing best practices, building capacity and driving innovation and we are delighted to be able to support them,” says Samuel Chen, VP at Huawei Southern Africa, thanking the ATU for leadership and promotion of ICTs in Africa.
“We have connected hundreds of millions of Africans to secure, high-speed broadband and cloud solutions in the last two decades and earned the trust and support of our customers and regulators; we look forward to doing even more,” Chen noted.
According to the MoU, the partners will also start offering cutting-edge training to ATU members, access to global experts to discuss the latest technologies and trends, and collaboration on research to help progress the continent’s digitization.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
A first of its kind ‘seamless and secure’ payment solution that allows users to make purchases using their airtime comes on-stream in South Africa courtesy of the new partnership entered into by Huawei technologies and MTN South Africa to launch Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) which will help unbanked customers to purchase online content and services.
With this solution, contract customers will now have the amount added to their monthly mobile phone bill, while prepaid customers will have the amount deducted directly from their available airtime. This means you can still pay for all your favourite offerings from Huawei Mobile Services without having to share your credit card details.
Ernst Fonternel, Chief Digital Officer of MTN South Africa
Speaking on the development, Ernst Fonternel, Chief Digital Officer of MTN South Africa says that it could not have come at a better time as “MTN recently reached 100 million active data customers across 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. This shows that our customers are increasingly adopting digital offerings and we are continuously looking to meet this demand with fresh offerings that will add value to our customers,”
“We are proud to partner with Huawei to offer our customers the simplicity of purchasing from the various Huawei Mobile Services with Prepaid Airtime or Postpaid Add to Bill. As we continue to roll out our 5G network, we believe that the demand for smarter apps will increase and we want to ensure that our customers enjoy the benefits of a modern connected life in an easy, convenient and safe way.”
The DCB service on Huawei devices will first be available on the MTN network, and then will be rolled out later to other networks. The billing service offers customers a multitude of benefits, including:
Better conversion rates: DCB requires the device users to only enter their phone number to make a payment.
Smooth customer experience: DCB is convenient. There is no need to sign up for any additional accounts or fill out any forms.
Protected consumer identity: Making payments with DCB is secure. No personal data is transmitted during the payment process so there is no need to worry about identity theft.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
With the banning of Chinese tech giant Huawei from using the Android operating system by Google under pressures from the United States government, Huawei has launched its operating system and has said their smartphones will be fully upgraded to Harmony OS next year, the company’s Consumer Business CEO said. The company’s President for Consumer Business Software department, Wang Chengju said that from a technical point of view, Harmony met the conditions for smartphones. However, it hadn’t been used yet and it would take time to solve the app problem.
Huawei Harmony OS
Apparently, the US sanctions on Huawei accelerated their efforts on Harmony. They had been working on it but the sanctions accelerated their development of the operating system. Some users will be able to upgrade to Harmony in January and February next year with the initial upgrade being verified for a few months. Later on, the upgrade will be fully released.
“Over the past five years or so, Huawei’s software team has basically changed the core part of Android,” Wang said. In a previous interview at the 2020 Developers Conference, Mr Wang said EMUI 11 is the first model to get an upgraded Harmony OS. This means that it carries many features of Harmony OS and are currently testing those features.
Wang predicts that the EMUI 11 upgrade rate will reach 90% or the user base size will reach 200 million by then. Huawei is currently the second biggest smartphone maker in the world and if they manage to make this work, Harmony OS might become a major mobile OS. They still have a lot of work on the hardware side, especially with sourcing components.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Huawei plans to invest $60 million to build an official park for training and sharing experience on the most advanced new technologies. The investment was part of a deliberation between Huawei’s director in Angola, Chu Xiaoxin, and the vice-president of Angola, Bornito de Sousa. Chu Xiaoxin said that the park will be built next year and integrates the components of staff training and experience sharing.
vice-president of Angola, Bornito de Sousa
“We will train Angolan talents, according to us we have the education centre, we will accompany our partners and clients for the innovation of new technologies, and then we have an experience centre, we will bring the most advanced and new technologies to Angolan society,” the head of the Chinese multinational said. According to Chu Xiaoxin, the total investment is more than $60 million and its inauguration and commissioning are scheduled for December next year, to train more than 1,500 partners or engineers.
Chu Xiaoxin pointed out at the meeting in addition to addressing the company’s operations in Angola Huawei’s donation and contribution efforts in social responsibility. “Especially some donations of technological equipment to Angolan society and how our businesses were affected by the pandemic. But we have all the confidence to accompany the Angolan Government’s development efforts,” he stressed.
Huawei had earlier signed a memorandum of understanding with the Angolan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the field of training talent in information and communication technologies (ICT). The company plans to provide 500 hours of ICT training to 50 civil servants to learn the latest technologies in the industry, and 3,000 hours of Huawei certification training for ICT-related employees.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Amid rising tensions between the US and China, Huawei is expanding its 5G network and influence in North Africa. As US-China relations become more heated and more and more Western powers turn their backs on the Asian giant, Huawei is gaining ground in the shifting sands of North African geopolitics. The still-developing relationship between Huawei and its North African partners is not merely transactional — with Huawei’s increased presence in the region, China is rapidly gaining diplomatic and financial influence.
Li Jie, Chairman of Huawei’s Supervisory Board
On March 28, 2020, the US announced new regulations in the tech industry designed to ban Huawei from using US manufactured (or owned) technology and software. Though the move was far from unexpected, it came as a blow to Chinese tech giant Huawei. President Donald Trump and his administration have alleged that Huawei is an arm of the Chinese government and its technology is part of a spying network. Trump has encouraged US allies to stand together against Huawei and deny the firm access to 5G networks. New Zealand, Australia, and most recently the UK, have followed Trump’s lead.
Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Huawei products would be off the British market by the end of 2020 and clear from the UK’s 5G network by the close of 2027. China, meanwhile, has threatened to reciprocate by imposing restrictions on certain US tech exports, prompting speculation that a long-term economic war could be on the horizon and North Africa may be among the battlefields.
Huawei’s foothold in North Africa
Huawei has already gained significant ground in North Africa and has a strong presence in a number of countries in the region. Huawei has been active in Egypt since 1999, and the Chinese company has a strong foothold in the North African country already.
In April 2019, the Egyptian government and Huawei entered talks about the launch of a 5G network in the country. Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly welcomed Li Jie, Chairman of Huawei’s Supervisory Board at his office to discuss future collaboration, pointing to the fact that Huawei’s North Africa foothold is about more than business.
The Egypt-Huawei relationship going forward will include partnerships in education, training, and industry. Looking forward, the Egyptian government is interested in engaging actively with Huawei on strategic planning for rolling out 5G across the country.
Huawei’s North Africa hold is not limited to Egypt: Tunisia’s Ooredoo Tunisie has engaged Huawei to develop the necessary infrastructure to roll out 5G across the country in 2021. Tunisia plans to use Huawei’s 5G Single RAN radio solutions with advanced Massive MIMO technology and its 5G Cloud Core technologies to develop the 5G network.
However, France has also thrown its hat into the ring to develop 5G in the North African country. While Ooredoo Tunisie has a market share of 40.2% and is eying up Huawei as a 5G partner, Orange Tunisie, who holds only 25.9% of Tunisia’s mobile network, has ruled out the Chinese tech company as a partner. “We don’t foresee calling on Huawei for 5G,” Orange CEO Stephane Richard said. “We are working with our traditional partners – they are Ericsson and Nokia.”
Spotlight on Morocco
Huawei and Morocco have developed a positive relationship over many years and the Chinese tech company recently chose Morocco as the location for the launch of its new low-cost smartphone, Huawei Y7p. Though the phone comes without Google Mobile Services due to the US embargo, Huawei has developed Huawei Mobile Services to cover the need for Application downloads and basic services.
Huawei has been operating in Morocco since 1999 when it opened its headquarters in Rabat. The company then opened a regional headquarters in Casablanca in 2018, to cover all of Huawei’s operations in North Africa. The tech company also has eight active agreements with Moroccan universities to train 12,000 students over a period of three years.
On top of education, the Chinese tech giant has partnered with key companies, such as the National Railway Office (ONCF). Huawei provides ONCF with the technologies necessary for high-speed-line or LGV communication services.
In January, Huawei announced that it is ready to launch a 5G network in Morocco. The company’s vice-president for North Africa, Philippe Wang, said Morocco could become a hub for Africa’s digital sector. Morocco, he said, should increase efforts to encourage foreign direct investments in the technology sector and speed up digital transformation in the industry.
“Morocco must also further promote trade and partnerships with regional economics,” said Wang. While Morocco traditionally boasts a strong and historic relationship with the US, the North African country’s decision to shift towards China through developing technology partnerships with Huawei points to a wider geopolitical shift.
China, North Africa, and shifting geopolitics
“China is setting up North Africa to play an integral role in connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe,” a 2019 Brookings report on China’s “growing footprint in North Africa” argued. The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Huawei’s increasingly strong grip on the region’s telephone networks, among other sectors.
The Brookings reports warned that “China’s growing role in North Africa is likely to have far-reaching economic and geopolitical consequences for countries in the region and around the world.” The research center’s theory is far from groundbreaking — it has been clear for some time that the US’ status as a global superpower and unquestioned diplomatic force is waning, and China is among the understudies waiting in the wings to step in.
However, as the US, China, and Russia continue to square up against each other, using economy and diplomacy as weapons in a new type of cold war, North African countries may have to decide which side of the virtual iron curtain they want to be on.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Tunisia has proven to be the country where companies have invested the most in innovative technological solutions during the crisis, according to a survey of CEOs in Africa, by the Think tank, Oxford Business Group (OBG), at the end of April 2020 and the results of which were published in the group’s report for July 2020.
Adnane Ben Halima, vice president of public relations for Huawei’s Mediterranean region
“Indeed, having demonstrated exceptional digital capabilities, many of its African peers have identified Tunisia as a cradle of innovation during the crisis”, according to this 30-page document entitled “Report on the Tunisian response to the Covid -19 ”.
Here Is What You Need To Know
Among examples of technological innovations during the crisis, the report cites the robot known as Veasense, developed by Tunisian start-up “Enova Robotics” to safely help patients of Covid-19 at Abderrahmen hospital Mami from Tunis. The robot allows medical personnel to remotely perform preliminary diagnoses and monitor patients without any physical contact.
The Tunisian Home Office has also acquired the PGuard from Enova Robotics, a robotic ground vehicle used to help enforce the country’s lockdown rules. Controlled remotely by government officials, the robot is equipped with infrared and thermal cameras, an audio system, GPS tracking, and a sound and light system that can be used to request IDs and issue verbal warnings.
Another example of the application of new technologies in the midst of the pandemic is the ‘Corona Bot’, a digital application that can provide information and support to people through Facebook. The application uses artificial intelligence and has sent more than 200,000 messages to 10,000 people.
The pandemic has also considerably accelerated the implementation of mobile payment systems, also notes the OBG report, recalling that “before the epidemic, certain players in the private sector had demanded the abolition of administrative formalities which had slowed down widespread adoption of mobile transactions since 2013, but without much success ”.
The crisis has created an urgent need to quickly and safely transfer small sums of money to large numbers of people, after the deployment of exceptional aid of 200 dinars, for 350,000 low-income citizens. “Covid-19 has shown the importance of embracing digitization and improving digital infrastructure,” Adnane Ben Halima, vice president of public relations for Huawei’s Mediterranean region, told OBG.
“This change since the start of the pandemic has been accompanied by political will and a change of mentality in favor of digitization. This has led to an accelerated delivery of projects that had been on hold for years, in just a few weeks, ”the manager developed.
The crisis has revealed the importance and potential of companies, helping to address many of the challenges that have emerged, with innovative solutions designed by local start-ups, such as telemedicine, concludes OBG, in its report.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer.
Huawei has officially announced HarmonyOS, the operating system it was rumored to be developing to replace its reliance on Android. In China, the software will be known as Hongmeng.
The company says the operating system, a microkernel-based distributed OS, can be used in everything from smartphones to smart speakers, wearables, and in-vehicle systems to create a shared ecosystem across devices. The operating system will be released as an open-source platform worldwide to encourage adoption.
There’s been a lot of speculation about Huawei’s in-house operating system ever since Google suspended the company’s Android license back in May, following the US government’s decision to put Huawei on the Entity List. Huawei has made no secret of the fact that it’s been working on its own OS, but the extent to which it would be able to act as a substitute for Android is unclear.
Huawei Mobile
✔@HuaweiMobile
A modularized #HarmonyOS can be nested to adapt flexibly to any device to create a seamless cross-device experience. Developed via the distributed capability kit, it builds the foundation of a shared developer ecosystem #HDC2019
Huawei plans to launch HarmonyOS on “smart screen products” later this year, before expanding it to work on other devices, like wearables, over the next three years. Huawei doesn’t explicitly say what constitutes a “smart screen” device, but its subsidiary Honor is expected to bring the OS to a smart TV according to a report in Reuters. The initial focus for the operating system will be China before Huawei expands it to other markets.
In a press release, the CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group Richard Yu says that HarmonyOS is “completely different from Android and iOS” because of its ability to scale across different kinds of devices. “You can develop your apps once, then flexibly deploy them across a range of different devices,” the CEO said.
Previously, it’s been unclear whether HarmonyOS would be an operating system for smartphones or for internet-of-things devices. It now appears that it’s designed to power both, similar to Google’s experimental Fuchsia operating system, which is designed to run on various form-factors.
Huawei is yet to announce a device running the new operating system, but the company is expected to launch a successor to the Mate 20 Pro smartphone in the fourth quarter of this year.
It isn’t yet clear how much need Huawei will have for its own in-house operating system going forward. Since placing Huawei on the Entity List, the Trump administration has indicated that it’s willing to ease the restrictions on the company.
In July, senior officials said that the administration would grant licenses to deal with Huawei in instances where national security wouldn’t be impacted. However, yesterday Bloomberg reported that the White House is delaying its decision about issuing these licenses in the wake of China’s decision to halt purchases of US farming goods.
It’s yet another suggestion that the Huawei restrictions have as much to do with the US-China trade war as they do with protecting national security.
HarmonyOS now has an official name, but it still has some major hurdles to overcome. Huawei is expecting developers to recompile their apps for this new operating system, with the ability to code once and deploy across multiple devices with different screen layouts, interactions, and more.
Huawei says developers can compile a range of languages into machine code in a single environment, but it’s unclear exactly how easy that will be for developers. There are a lot of big promises here, but it’s going to be an even bigger challenge to build up an app ecosystem to rival both Android and Android Open Source Project (AOSP).
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
The trade war between the US and China means that Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China is the latest victim.
Google has just announced it has cut off Huawei’s Android licence, a move which would have serious implications for the manufacturer’s smartphone business.
Global smartphone market share
“We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications. For users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices,”Google said in a statement which attributes the revocation of the licence to compliance with US government policy
What This Means
The short term implication of this is that Huawei will lose access to Android updates, which means that existing Huawei smartphones will not be able to receive any official Android OS updates going forward.
Huawei will only be able to use the open-source version of Android and will lose access to proprietary apps and services from Google.
While the Chinese manufacturer can still use the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) licence to develop its software, this licence however, does not encompass applications such as Gmail, YouTube, and the Chrome browser.
These applications require a commercial agreement with Google and are available to download through the Google Play Store. These are what Google has blocked.
Intel, Others Follow Suit With Google
Among the four chipmakers, Intel is Huawei’s primary supplier of chips used in its data centers.
Additionally, Intel also provides processors for Huawei’s Matebook series of laptops.
Qualcomm sells it Snapdragon SoCs for various entry-level devices like the Honor 8C as well as some network chips.
Qualcom also licenses aptX codec for Bluetooth audio to Huawei.
Meanwhile, Xilinx provides programmable chips for networking while Broadcom supplies packet switching chips for telecom equipment.
In all, there are more than 30 companies in the U.S. considered as “core suppliers” by the company, and all of them are likely to follow the same route.
Huawei would lose all that bar for green Android with this new development
What This Means For African Businesses
The implication of this move by Google is that African businesses and other western markets using Huawei products could lose access to YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, and other popular apps on their Android smartphones, which are the proprietary rights of Google. This could be devastating for users in the Western markets where Huawei operates.
However, it is still uncertain how Huawei adjust its platform to tackle this the suspension of its Android licence.
Huawei may opt to migrate its devices to its own proprietary operating system, which it confirmed it has been developing in case it loses access to Android.
However, moving to this new operating system would not affect China so much, because most Google applications are banned are already banned there and users have since adopted Chinese equivalents.
Huawei has greatly expanded its presence in the African market, with its devices proving extremely popular due to their lower prices and solid design.
However, regardless of whether Huawei decides to migrate to its backup OS or stay with an open-source version of Android, its Android licence suspension will have a significant impact on Huawei users in South Africa.
This termination may give rise to serious trust issues against the Chinese companies. American spy chiefs in a classified info hinted that “The Chinese government and Communist party pose the greatest long-term threat to US economic and national security. It’s important that US companies, universities, and trade organizations understand fully that threat.”
“Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry.
Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally.
We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.”
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh, a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
