華爲瞄準下一階段擴張 Huawei looks forward to next stage of expansion

The meteoric growth of Huawei, the Chinese telecoms group, is reflected in its changing presence at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

中國電信集團華爲(Huawei)飛快的成長速度，就體現在它出席巴塞羅那世界移動大會(Mobile World Congress)的排場變化上。

When the company first attended the world’s biggest telecoms event in 2003, it was forced to take a tent on the beach after it missed out on a place in the official conference hall.

2003年這家企業首次參加這一全球最大電信盛會時，由於未能獲得正式會議廳中的展位，該公司不得不在海灘上佔據了一個帳篷的位置。

“Everyone walked around asking ‘Who is Huawei’?,” Vincent Peng, its European president, tells the Financial Times days before the event. “People questioned if the Chinese can even make telecoms infrastructure; how long we were going to be in Europe; if we were just there to look at the market.”

大會開幕幾天前，華爲西歐地區總裁彭博(Vincent Peng)向英國《金融時報》表示：“每個路過的人都在問：‘華爲是誰？’甚至有人問，中國能生產電信基礎設備嗎？我們打算在歐洲待多久？我們到那裏去是不是隻是爲了看一下市場？”

This year a company that has become the third-largest smartphone vendor in the world will occupy half of one of the enormous hangers that houses the event to show off its latest network services and products.

今年，華爲將佔據大會所在的其中一個巨大機庫的一半，展示其最新網絡服務和產品。

Huawei’s area is no longer protected by a large barrier as in previous years but instead opened up to show its latest technologies. Executives were just as open, keen to stress the group wanted to work with the rest of telecoms industry to develop next generation, 5G networks.

華爲的展區不再像往年那樣用巨大的屏障保護起來，而是開放式的，向人們展示着其最新的技術。高管們也同樣開放，他們主動強調該集團希望與電信業同行合作，開發下一代的5G網絡技術。

Guo Ping, one of Huawei’s rotating chief executives, says: “China, the European Union and other countries are already discussing 5G standards. We hope stakeholders can reach consensus on the standards.”

華爲輪值首席執行官之一郭平表示：“中國、歐盟(EU)和其他國家已經在討論5G標準。我們希望各相關方面能夠就該標準達成一致。”

Huawei is on a par with the world’s largest equipment supplier, Ericsson, which has seven R&D centres across the continent and employs 1,200 people.

華爲與全球最大電信設備供應商愛立信(Ericsson)規模不相上下，已成爲全球第三大智能手機商，僅在歐洲就有7個研發中心、僱有1200人。

Yet Mr Peng said more could be done to extend its business on the continent.

不過，彭博表示，在向歐洲拓展業務方面，華爲還有努力的空間。

The company is working to develop an “ecosystem” around connected cities, which Mr Peng refers to as the third stage of the group’s plans in Europe after initial success in selling its products was followed by the development of its telecoms operations in the region.

該公司眼下正努力開發圍繞互聯城市的“生態系統”。彭博稱，這是該公司歐洲計劃的第三階段。在此之前，繼在歐洲銷售產品的計劃取得初步成功之後，該公司已開始在歐洲發展電信業務。

“We want to bring in local partners. If we can make the solutions work in Europe then we can help them sell to the rest of the world,” he says. In consumer mobile, Huawei is still “second tier”.

他說：“我們希望引入當地的合作伙伴。如果我們能讓該解決方案在歐洲行之有效，接下來我們就能幫助他們銷往全球其他地方。”而在移動消費領域，華爲目前仍處於“第二梯隊”。

The company wants to add to its stable of high-end devices with the next iteration of its flagship range of phones called the P9. Mr Peng says they will have an advanced camera and specifications to match the top selling handsets of rivals such as Apple and Samsung. The devices will use Huawei’s own chip set, which it claims has improved power consumption and battery life.

該公司希望把名爲P9的下一代旗艦系列手機加入到其高端產品線中。彭博表示，該系列配備先進的攝像頭和技術參數，可以與蘋果(Apple)、三星(Samsung)等對手的暢銷機型一較高下。P9系列將採用華爲自己的芯片組，據稱將更省電、電池壽命更長。

The company also plans to spend more on sponsorship and advertising to develop its brand, and intends to open its first flagship retail stores.

華爲還計劃提高贊助和廣告方面的支出，以打造自身品牌，並有意開設首家旗艦零售店。

“We have a quite big gap compared to tier one. That is what we are working on,” he said.

“相比第一梯隊，我們還有一個相當大的差距。這是我們正在努力的地方，”他說。

Huawei has even more ambitious plans in its telecoms network building division, which still accounts for about 70 per cent of sales.

在電信網絡架構業務上，華爲制定了更加雄心勃勃的計劃，目前該業務依然約佔華爲銷售額的70%。

Mr Peng wants to join forces with European technology groups to develop suites of services and applications that will enable connected homes and cities, the so-called internet of things.

彭博希望能和歐洲科技公司合作開發能夠連接住宅和城市的服務和應用套組，即所謂的物聯網。

So-called “innovation labs” will be established in cities such as in Munich, Paris and Amsterdam.

華爲將在慕尼黑、巴黎和阿姆斯特丹等城市設立所謂的“創新實驗室”。

“We have picked some cities to demonstrate to the world that this is the way to live and work. [Smart cities] want the whole end-to-end solution — from connectivity, infrastructure, content, applications.”

“我們挑選了一些城市，向世界展示，這就是生活和工作的應有方式。（智慧城市）想要的是全套端對端解決方案，從連通性、基礎設施、到內容和應用。”

The centres will work alongside the support for at least three new “connected cities” in Europe — expected to be in London, Madrid and Berlin — which form part of the group’s strategy to extend its influence more deeply across the continent.

這些中心將爲歐洲至少3個新的“互聯城市”（預計將是倫敦、馬德里和柏林）提供支持，這是華爲一項策略的部分，即更深入地拓展其在整個歐洲的影響力。

But Mr Peng says that European technology has been held back by a lack of scale. When Huawei launched its Honor smartphone range — an online only brand — it found that the only means to promote and sell devices was through US groups such as Amazon, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

但彭博表示，規模不足阻礙了歐洲技術的發展。當華爲發佈僅在線銷售的“榮耀”(Honor)系列智能手機時，發現他們只能通過亞馬遜(Amazon)、Facebook、Instagram和Twitter等美國公司來推廣和銷售。

“Europe has a lot of good companies but the environment is not good for them to scale up,” he says.

“歐洲有很多優秀的公司，但環境不利於它們擴大規模，”他說。

Nonetheless, he admits that Europe has been more welcoming to Huawei than other regions such as the US, where politicians have raised suspicions about its links to the Chinese state.

儘管如此，他也坦言歐洲比美國等其他地區更歡迎華爲。美國的政治人士對華爲與中國政府的關係提出了疑問。

“European countries are the most open to new things and challenges. Its open, honest, transparent to Huawei, which we like a lot.”

“歐洲國家對新事物和新挑戰最爲開放。歐洲對華爲是開放、誠信和透明的，我們非常中意這一點。”