Posted by Shenzhen, China: Huawei has signed a global commitment to join the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Alliance. Through this alliance, Huawei has pledged to help bring connectivity to about 120 million people in remote areas in more than 80 countries by 2025.
In Cambodia, the ITU’s first P2C partner country, Huawei will work with government departments through the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and universities to provide 10,000 training opportunities for ICT professionals in the next five years.
Liang Hua, Chairman of Huawei, announced the decision at the company’s 2022 Sustainability Forum, Connectivity+: Innovate for Impact. The forum explored how ICT innovation could unleash the business and social value of connectivity and drive sustainability in the digital economy era.
“It is clear connectivity alone is not enough. It must be affordable, the content must be relevant and in the local language, and users must have the skills to make the best use of it,” said ITU Deputy Secretary-General Malcolm Johnson.
“Thank you to Huawei for their support of the Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition, and for their announced P2C pledges in the key areas of rural connectivity and digital skills,” added Johnson.
Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, called for “multi-stakeholder partnerships” of policymakers, the private sector, academia, and civil society to close “the sobering reality” of a digital divide which excluded a third of the global population.
“Our dynamic world urgently needs to improve digital cooperation to capitalise on the transformational potential of technology to create new jobs, boost financial inclusion, close the gender gap, spur a green recovery and redesign our world to be more prosperous and inclusive,” he said. “Now is the time to act”.
In his keynote address, Dr Liang stressed that access to a stable network was a basic requirement and right in the digital age. For many who remain unconnected, access to reliable connectivity would mark the first step towards transforming their lives.
“Connectivity will be more than just a tool for convenient communications,” he said. “Together with digital technologies like cloud and AI, connectivity will help bring everyone into the digital world, and provide them with access to more information and skills, better services, and wider business opportunities. This will, in turn, drive further social and economic development.”
In Africa, Huawei has laid more than 250,000 kilometres of optical fibres, enabling 30 million households to access high-speed broadband.
(Image credit – Huawei)