Huawei vows to fix US 'problems'
As its profits rise, phone equipment maker says it will overcome US spying allegations
Huawei Technologies, China's largest phone equipment maker, yesterday said it hoped to "solve the challenges and problems" it has in the United States where it has been accused of being a security risk.
A US congressional report in October said Huawei and ZTE, another leading phone-network equipment provider in China and Huawei's rival, were a security risk to the US.
Chief executive Guo Ping said Huawei posed no risk to the US.
"Since we have never sold key equipment into the United States networks, there is no possibility Huawei can pose a security threat to the United States," Guo told a news conference.
Since we have never sold key equipment into the United States networks, there is no possibility Huawei can pose a security threat to the United States
"There has never been any incident of our products threatening the cybersecurity of networks," he said, adding that Huawei products are used in more than 140 countries.
"One day we could potentially solve the challenges and problems in the US."
Guo said that this year Huawei will continue to maintain business growth momentum and create a bright future with "our customers and partners around the world".
Since Washington labelled it a security threat, the Chinese technology giant has said it would be committed to protecting cyber-security and working with governments in a transparent way.
The company said it expects to record a compound annual growth rate of 10 per cent in revenue over the next five years, boosted by sales of cloud computing and smartphones.
It also confirmed a 32 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit last year to 15.4 billion yuan (HK$19.06 billion). Revenue increased by 8 per cent to 220.2 billion yuan. China remained the company's biggest market, where it saw growth in revenue of 12.2 per cent to 73.6 billion yuan.
Huawei's chief financial officer Cathy Meng Wanzhou forecast that the company's worldwide sales this year would see growth of 10 per cent to 12 per cent.
The company said Huawei is "committed to becoming a world-leading smart device brand". In the fourth quarter, Huawei became one of the world's top three smartphone makers for the first time.
Yan Chengyin, an industry analyst at Beijing's Bayes Consulting, said the growth target is within Huawei's reach, based on the previous annual growth rate of the company.
"Averagely speaking, 10 per cent is at the lower end of the firm's growth range over the past years," he said.
