Huawei wins US$442m Africa contracts

Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies, China's largest telecoms equipment provider, announced it had won contracts worth US$442m to supply products to Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. The company beat other rivals including Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia to win the contracts providing mobile handsets, optical transmission equipment, switches and routers. The bulk of the orders is for Zimbabwe, with Huawei securing two agreements with the country's state-owned fixed-line and mobile operators worth a collective US$322m. Huawei has said it is looking increasingly at opportunities in the developing world to expand its export revenue base and expects total exports value to top US$4bn in 2005.