Huawei advocates for more ICT investment to accelerate the digital transformation toward a better connected world at the CommunicAsia 2016, in Singapore through several consecutive conferences, namely Ultra-Broadband Summit 2016, Asia ICT Innovation Forum 2016 and Cloud Communications Journey. Policy makers, regulators and industry experts from the vertical industries have joined the discussion over the impact of the global trends on ICT development in Asia Pacific.
Daniel Tang, CTO of the Huawei Fixed Network Product Line, pointed out that quite a number of nations in the Asia Pacific area have made significant progress in digital transformation, citing the latest Huawei's Global Connectivity Index (GCI) 2016, which measures how 50 nations are progressing with their digital transformations using Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
Case studies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore showed that collaboration with transportation and real estate development companies can improve the supply of ICT infrastructure by leveraging on synergies between telecom and non-telecom sectors. Ongoing efforts to promote ICT literacy via government sponsored training program has broaden digital inclusion and created more demand for ICT.
"Singapore's strategic location at the tip of the Malacca straits, an important regional trade route, is a key reason for its economic success. In the digital economy, a "digital Malacca Straits" is wherever there is a concentration of data centers." Tang compared the physical trade route with data routes in the digital economy. "The computational capabilities powering cloud services will be coming out of those data centers, and delivered to empower every household and every business in the digital age.”
In the past decades, urban population has exploded and mega-cities with more than 10 million citizens are on the rise. Addressing the needs of a burgeoning population effectively and efficiently is a key concern for mega-cities. Already, there are more than 250 smart cities worldwide with groundbreaking ICT equipment in constructing or planning stages. Moving forward, Huawei will continue to work in the areas of enhancing connectivity, improving the user experience, expanding access to connectivity under all scenarios, and helping vertical industries go digital to drive the ICT industry forward.