by
EBR
Interbrand, the leading brand consultancy, has included Huawei in its top 100 Best Global Brands ranking for the first time. “With 65% of its revenue coming from outside China and earnings continuing to climb both domestically and across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Huawei is quickly becoming one of the largest equipment makers in the world,” Interbrand says, introducing the 2014 ranking table. “The company is currently third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world – just behind Samsung and Apple,” it points out. Huawei is one of five new entrants on the list alongside DHL, FedEx, Land Rover and Hugo Boss. Huawei earned its place in the ranking thanks to progress in three key areas: rapid growth, long-term investments and innovative edge. In 2013, net profit increased by 34% compared to 2012, to nearly $3.4 billion (€ 2.7 billion). Interbrand places Huawei 94th in its overall list of global brands, in which it is the 12th best-known technology company with a 2014 brand value of $ 4.313 billion (€ 3.4 billion).
Interbrand chief executive Jez Frampton said Huawei’s growth and long-term investment in its brand had helped it earn a place among the world’s most valuable brands. Despite its low brand awareness worldwide, Huawei had gradually expanded its reach around the globe, said Mr Frampton, continuing to use its technological prowess in both consumer products as well as enterprise solutions. “It remains well positioned to meet the needs of customers in both emerging and developed markets,” he added. Huawei continues to invest heavily and is dedicating over USD 4 billion to Fixed Broadband (FBB) technology over the next three years to support its customers as they seek to improve the service experience for end users. The company is expanding pipeline capacity through innovative thinking and investment in chips, algorithms, silicon photonics and other technologies.
Huawei’s new tool for measuring a country’s strength in ICT
An example of Huawei’s ‘innovative edge’ (one of its three key areas mentioned by Interbrand) is the new compiled tool for measuring a country’s strength in ICT, the Global Connectivity Index, which finds that the more connected a country is, the greater the GDP. The study, in which Germany and the UK figure in the top three ‘most connected’ nations in the world, examined 25 countries which account for 78% of global GDP. The GCI measured their Current Connectivity and Growth Momentum, providing an intuitive glimpse into their efforts to make broadband ubiquitous and to benefit from this. The research is useful information contributing to Huawei’s efforts to support Europe’s Digital Agenda, one of the EU’s seven pillars for growth by 2020. Germany finished top of the GCI ranking with a score of 76, thanks to high bandwidth per user, good Fixed Broadband (FBB) penetration and affordable Mobile Broadband (MBB). However, as with all countries surveyed, Germany still has big challenges ahead. It can still substantially increase numbers of FBB subscribers and Internet Providers per capita, for instance.
The United Kingdom follows the United States’ 2nd position in the ranking. The UK is strong in MBB penetration and FBB subscribers, but has the challenge of increasing telco investment as a percentage of GDP and the numbers of smartphone connections and IPs per capita. France was the other European country to finish in the global Top 10, in 7th place thanks to its high bandwidth per user and good, affordable FBB penetration. The other EU country in the Top 25 countries analysed was Italy, in 13th place.
As part of the research, Huawei surveyed over 1,000 executives from 10 industries, including finance, manufacturing, education, transportation and logistics, asking them about their ICT investment plans and the benefits they have so far seen from such investment in terms of efficiency, innovation and customer engagement. The study found that, for each GCI percentage point increase, the GDP per capita increases by 1.4–1.9%, and higher in developing countries. The GCI reports that 65% of enterprises plan to increase their ICT investment over the next two years.
See more at: http://huawei.eu/e-news/
By: N. Peter Kramer
