Bringing broadband to rural Europe – Huawei has the solution

Lowering costs and good regulation will bring about digital inclusion

Despite the efforts of the EU and most Member States, the gap in connectivity between rural areas and cities and towns in Europe is growing, not decreasing, Huawei’s Abraham Liu said today at a webinar on rural broadband.

“Connectivity in Europe has grown steadily over the last few years, reaching over 80 % of the population. But if we disaggregate the data, we can see that this percentage drops to less than 50 % in rural areas - and the gap does not appear to be closing in order to reach the objectives of the Digital Agenda by the end of 2020,” explained Mr Liu, who is Huawei’s Chief Representative to the European Institutions.

Huawei wants to help Europe overcome this rural broadband gap, Abraham Liu said. “This can now be done in an easier and more affordable way than before.”

He was speaking in an online seminar called “Rural Broadband: Opportunities and Challenges. Narrowing the gap to support farmers and rural regions”, organised by Euractiv.

Mobile operators face two key challenges in driving digital inclusion in rural areas:

• Extending coverage remains economically challenging given the high costs of increasing coverage and issues connected to consumer demand.
• Inconsistent and distortive regulation from governments, which restricts public and private investment in connecting the unconnected.

“Overcoming these barriers will require innovation and collaboration between the public and private sectors. Huawei, as industry and private sector, has many solutions to bring ultra-long-distance voice and digital access services to rural areas,” Mr Liu added.

Speaking alongside EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and MEP Franc Bogovic, Mr Liu welcomed the EU’s Smart Villages initiative, saying that Huawei, with its extensive Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Smart Farming experiences, saw itself as a natural partner for the project, which comes under the umbrella of the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD).

“The Pandemic has shown us that networks are the lifeblood of our European societies. Europe now needs to be bold and determined. 5G and AI are rare strategic opportunities that will help Europe move forward – in rural areas as fast as in cities,“ Abraham Liu concluded.

About Huawei

Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services – Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world.

Huawei's end-to-end portfolio of products, solutions and services are both competitive and secure. Through open collaboration with ecosystem partners, Huawei creates lasting value for our customers, working to empower people, enrich home life, and inspire innovation in organizations of all shapes and sizes.

At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. Huawei invests heavily in basic research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. Huawei has more than 194,000 employees and operates in over 170 countries and regions. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.

In Europe, Huawei currently employs over 13,300 staff and runs two regional offices and 23 R&D sites. So far, Huawei has established 230 technical cooperation projects and has partnered with over 150 universities across Europe.