In just 30 years, Huawei has gone from being an ordinary SME in the Shenzhen of the 1980s to that of the world leader in telecom equipment and number 2 in mobile telephony. Endowed with a remarkable perseverance in investing in its core business, connectivity. Its international outlook very early on confirmed the development potential of the company. It is, in fact, 5G leader in number of patents, leader in drone markets, genomics… Moreover, the World Bank estimates that between 2020 and 2030, China could overtake the USA. This success has meant that the battle for innovation is also largely played out from China. Lin Xingshuo, CEO of Huawei Tunisia, reveals to La Presse the main achievements of Huawei in Tunisia and its strategies to support the digital economy and develop the ecosystem of start-ups in our country.
You have had an eventful year at Huawei despite the multiple confinements that Tunisia has experienced. Can you name the highlights?
Indeed, the year 2021 was again marked by the pandemic, which made the year rich but also eventful. I will cite a few events that were particularly important. Last March, we organized the "Huawei Tunisian Talent Day", where we presented our white paper "ICT Talents in Tunisia: match between supply and demand", produced in collaboration with PwC. We wanted, through this work, to present the results of an unprecedented study in Tunisia, based on data collected from the various actors of the ICT ecosystem in order to measure the adequacy between the university study programs and vocational training (supply) and market needs and expectations (demand) in terms of jobs and ICT skills. We also took the opportunity to present a retrospective of training and certification programs, in addition to our internship offers and training offered to students in the field of ICT. At the end of October, we were lucky enough to be able to attend the “Woman entrepreneur” ceremony. The inclusion of women in the ICT ecosystem is a very important subject for Huawei, which is why we accompanied Miss Khaoula Ben Ahmed and her start-up Gewinner in this 2021 edition where she received a Huawei award in the category Technologies. We are convinced that the young generation plays an important role and we hope that every Tunisian ICT talent can have a brilliant career in the future, whether at Huawei Tunisia, in their own start-ups or in other places of Tunisian ICT ecosystem. At the beginning of December, we participated in the "Digital Tunisia Days 2021", organized by the Ministry of ICT at the 2020 World Expo in Dubai. This showcase was an opportunity to promote the know-how and innovations of Tunisian actors to international visitors in order to bring together the entire ecosystem for the first time around the same event. Start-ups have become an essential factor in the growth of the ICT sector and the development of the economy. Huawei will continue to support and contribute as a strategic partner for the Tunisian government and all local partners and support the creation of an enabling environment for Tunisian start-ups. Finally, I cannot mention the year 2021 without mentioning our meeting with His Excellency President Kaïs Saïed. Indeed, we had the honor last August 19 to report to him on our long-term strategy in Tunisia.
The 5G battle is in full swing between the various operators. It is even at the heart of a geostrategic war. What are the challenges of such a migration for the world and how did you prepare for it?
5G is already a reality, but its development is still at stake and companies continue to innovate in this technology to revolutionize its use around the world. The fifth generation of mobile communications technologies has become a strategic issue on which modern digital economies are based. This technological trend is inevitable and its establishment requires time, because it depends on the strategy of the government, the ecosystem, the availability of devices in the market, the accessibility of prices, application scenarios, the availability of bandwidth, the readiness of operators to invest, etc.
Huawei leads the 5G patent rankings and our technology is ready to support the Tunisian economy in its digital transformation. Indeed, a real technological revolution is on the horizon, offering significant development prospects and affecting a wide variety of sectors. The deployment of new 5G networks will then mark the entry into a hyperconnected world defined by very high speeds, very low latencies, and massive connectivity. This technology makes it possible to envisage new uses in many industrial sectors, including transport, energy, industry, health, agriculture, public safety, public services and smart cities. Standards such as 5G make it possible to process large amounts of data to connect industrial machines and robots, thus enabling remote control, monitoring and repair actions, as well as industrial automation. 5G will ensure that half of the world's data traffic over the next few years no longer comes from human use, but is generated by vehicles, machines, meters, sensors, medical instruments or various types of devices. connected devices online without any human interaction. For the end consumer, given the growth of the user base and the increase in mobile broadband services "HD/UHD video, AR/VR services, cloud games", fixed wireless access , Smart City use cases, etc., traffic will continue to develop and grow to reach 100 GB per capita in 2025 and 250 GB in 2030. To return to Tunisia, it is important to focus on the cases uses that can be envisaged in a sectoral manner and specific to each field of activity, as well as their spin-offs. This is in order to adapt to the national socio-economic environment. As the national authorities have well understood, the ultimate goal is to identify the use cases of 5G before its deployment in order to achieve success and long-term amortization. This is the only way to ensure that we contribute to achieving the major objectives that Tunisia has set itself, including improving the penetration of very high speed broadband, strengthening the country's competitiveness and attractiveness for foreign investments as well as the modernization and digitization of Tunisian society.
You recently participated with Aicto in the presentation of a White Paper on cybersecurity in the Arab world. How important is cybersecurity to Huawei and how can you help Arab countries better protect themselves?
Admittedly, the rapid development of digital technology is leading to transformations that are as profound as they are promising, but the risks that accompany them should not be minimized. The defense of digital ecosystems is a central issue for the security of States and companies alike. This digital sovereignty can only be protected by strong political determination, reflected in the development of national strategies dedicated to cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is a vast and complex field, where public actors cannot go it alone. In order to build an appropriate response to the new digital challenges, it is crucial to mobilize the private sector as well as the public sector, and no longer oppose them. Overall, digital players must join forces with States, operators, regulatory authorities and civil society: this synergy is necessary to build the best ecosystems.
Cybersecurity is therefore linked to digital sovereignty. States must be able to control how their communication channels are protected. This protection rests on two pillars. The hardware, on the one hand, by the creation of data centers. Locally installed data centers allow local players to maintain control over their digital ecosystems and apply their own legislation. The software, on the other hand. It is necessary to put in place education policies on digital issues, in training centers or technological hubs, where developers, national experts, researchers and students can exchange and acquire digital skills. Cybersecurity is also an important element that promotes the integration of the regional digital economy. In this wake, during the Aicto Forum for Cybersecurity, the opportunities and challenges related to the security of the Arab cyberspace were highlighted by the Aicto in order to stimulate the importance of joint cooperation in this field aimed at supporting the Arab integration towards a safe space that will bring prosperity to the peoples of the region. This event is part of a process of reflection and exchange aimed at strengthening internet security and the protection of digital data by pooling investments in research, technologies and industrial development in cybersecurity. in the Arab world. Emphasis was placed on adapting to current issues and technological developments, in particular the Covid-19 health crisis and the risks generated in terms of cybersecurity. By supporting this kind of initiative, Huawei is working to create a climate of trust in digital.
This requires a philosophy of transparency with the public. We must highlight the risks in terms of cybersecurity and communicate around the challenges that we must meet. Thus cybersecurity continues to be our top priority: we believe that cybersecurity and privacy protection reflect the strength of a company. In every Huawei office, we make products that are safe and reliable, and to make the digital world ever more secure. Huawei guarantees that its commitment and dedication to cybersecurity will always come before considering its business interests.
On November 15, you organized the Seeds for future forum and ICT Academy, which are Huawei's flagship CSR programs. Can you give us a brief reminder of the importance of this special edition which concerned Libya and Tunisia?
Huawei's vision is to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected and intelligent world. Talent training is important in order to achieve this goal.
Huawei invests significant resources every year to work with governments and partners to develop and build a healthy and successful ICT talent ecosystem. It is in this direction that Huawei invests heavily, through the deployment of large-scale training programs, such as Huawei ICT Academy or the Seeds for the Future program. All aim to put young people in a position to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital revolution.
Our presence since 1999 in Tunisia has been marked by our strong commitment to the education and training of young people in ICT. We have never stopped working with the Tunisian government to develop and transform Tunisia into a regional hub for ICT talent. The Seeds for the Future convention officially started in 2015 in Tunisia. And this year, for the first time in history, we signed the Seeds for the Future agreement with the Libyan government. More than 40 students from both countries experienced a week of training together, which made it possible to strengthen ties and exchange culturally. Moreover, thanks to a strategic partnership between Tunisia Huawei and Tunisian universities, we co-founded ICT Academy in more than 60 universities. To date, more than 4,000 students have participated and completed the online courses and more than 600 students have been certified in R&S, AI, Cloud, Security, 5G, IOT, Storage, Big Data and WLAN. As of 2021, we had also established a partnership with the ICT Academy with 4 Libyan universities and the Libyan Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
We will continue to invest in these two programs in the future, both in Tunisia and in Libya.
At Huawei, youth employability is at the heart of our concerns.
It is essential to guide young people towards training in ICT professions, which are job providers. Finally, we consider EduTech as the ideal bulwark against inequalities in access to education. For this opportunity to materialize, it is necessary to invest in solid infrastructures. Our expertise in this area allows us to identify the needs of States, in partnership with local governments, operators and civil society. The development of 5G and high-speed internet is concomitant with the boom in the digitization of teaching platforms. Better flow rates will ensure a fluidification of uses.
How does 2022 look for you and what are the events and innovations planned by Huawei?
In 2022, we will continue to provide solutions adapted to the context of each country. We want to continue to make Tunisia benefit from our ICT technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Cloud, 5G, etc.
We also want to support the ICT ecosystem in order to develop industrial applications capable of unleashing the potential of these technologies. Our goal is to help businesses grow their business on the one hand, and governments to boost domestic industry on the other. All this should benefit, first and foremost, the citizens.
Our strategy in Tunisia consists in providing individuals, companies and organizations with a technological base on which they can graft their daily activities in order to gain in efficiency and promote their socio-economic development. It is important for this to be possible to set up a solid broadband Internet network, accessible even in the most isolated places, to guarantee universal connectivity.
As we have done since our installation in Tunisia in 1999, we will continue to support Tunisian operators, to offer a better network experience to the population and to support the digitalization of private and public companies.
We work to be a trusted partner for all of our counterparts. We want to commit not only to the short but to the long term, referring to our good results and our experience.