4G, smartphones drive Huawei profit
Huawei Technologies Ltd yesterday posted a net profit growth of 33 percent in 2014, thanks to global demand for telecommunications network upgrade to 4G, advanced technologies and booming smartphone sales.
Huawei, the world’s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker, reported a net profit of 27.9 billion yuan (US$4.5 billion). Global revenue rose 21 percent to 288.2 billion yuan in 2014, from 239 billion yuan a year earlier, according to Huawei’s audited report by KPMG.
The operator business, Huawei’s core business, steadily grew 16.4 percent to 192.1 billion yuan. It has got contracts from overseas markets including Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.
Huawei has become a core equipment supplier of UK operator EE’s 4G network, which will pay 1.5 billion pounds (US$2.3 billion) between now and 2017. It will be the world’s fastest 4G network, both sides said.
The booming consumer business, mainly fueled by sales of smartphones like flagship model P7, grew 32.6 percent to 75.1 billion yuan.
The new enterprise business grew 27.3 percent thanks to surging demand of cloud computing and big data. Huawei spent 40.8 billion yuan on research and development in 2014.