Global Times - 21.08.2019

BIZUPDATE

Wednesday August 21, 2019 B3

Giant bargain

US warehouse store giant Costco is seen in Shanghai on Tuesday. The retailer’s first store in the Chinese mainland

is set to open on August 27 in the Minhang district. The wholesale giant, which operates hundreds of warehouses

mainly in the US, also has outlets in Japan and South Korea. Photo: IC

 Third UK carrier uses equipment despite US moves

Huawei expands global 5G role

Maker of national flags supports patriotic Chinese studying at foreign institutions

By Zhang Hongpei

A Chinese vendor selling cus-

tomized national flags has

witnessed a surge in business,

driven by demand from over-

seas Chinese students.

The vendor, known as

Shengxin on Taobao.com, is

based in Shenzhen, South Chi-

na’s Guangdong Province.

It has 293 orders waiting to

be shipped and 12 waiting for

payment, according to a screen-

shot its salesperson showed to

the Global Times on Tuesday.

“Orders have obviously

surged,” said the salesperson.

“The latest batch of orders

came from Chinese students

studying in Germany,” said the

vendor’s owner, who gave his

surname as Wang. He added

that some Chinese based in the

UK also placed orders.

In response to the ongoing

protests in China’s Hong Kong,

patriotic Chinese students in

Germany, the UK and Australia

voluntarily rallied against the

recent violence in the city.

In London, thousands of

overseas Chinese, waving the

Chinese national flag and the

flag of the Hong Kong Special

Administrative Region (HK-

SAR), while singing the Chi-

nese national anthem along the

way from Chinatown to Tra-

falgar Square, expressed their

firm objection to violence and

strong support for the HKSAR

government and Hong Kong

police, according to the Xinhua

News Agency.

In Paris, and in the Ger-

man cities of Berlin, Cologne

and Hamburg, overseas Chi-

nese also held peaceful rallies

against the violence.

“We sell customized nation-

al flags at prices nearly equal

to the cost, and we just want to

provide our support to the patri-

otic cause,” Wang said.

A Chinese national flag

that’s 1,440 cm long and 960

cm wide is sold for 35 yuan

($4.96) by the vendor.

Some Chinese netizens said

they want to buy such flags to

express their support for the pa-

triotic cause.

Another vendor Qianqihui

on Tmall.com said more or-

ders are expected to be placed

in September ahead of the 70th

anniversary of the founding of

the People’s Republic of China.

By Li Xuanmin

International satellite-based communications

provider Inmarsat is eyeing China’s huge mari-

time satellite communications market despite

the ongoing trade war with the US, and it’s espe-

cially interested in real-time connectivity with the

arrival of the 5G era in China, CEO Rupert Pearce

told the Global Times.

The UK-based company aims to integrate its

maritime satellite network with China’s land-

based, commercial 5G network to cater to the na-

tion’s expanding consumer base.

“China’s maritime satellite communications

market is very large and growing rapidly. It’s also

among the world’s most innovative,” said Pearce.

Many crew members in the global merchant ma-

rine fleet and the fishery sector hail from China.

The UK-based company has over the past 40

years launched and operated 13 satellites in geo-

stationary orbits to provide successive and full

broadband global network services that cover

L-band broadband, high-speed Ka-band and Eu-

ropean inflight Wi-Fi S-band services, allowing

wireless networks to be accessed from the sea

and the skies.

Inmarsat started cooperating with and sup-

porting the BeiDou Navigation system five years

ago.

For example, BeiDou and Inmarsat have joint-

ly developed a maritime satellite fleetphone for

the fishery fleet in East China’s Fujian Province.

The device, which integrates the navigation ser-

vice with the communications service, is manu-

factured in China.

Inmarsat is also willing to collaborate with

more Chinese partners in countries and regions

along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative

(BRI) where BeiDou has a presence, he said.

In 2015, the London-listed group signed a deal

with the China Transport Telecommunication &

Information Centre to deliver satellite communi-

cations along BRI routes.

The satellite group has big plans in China con-

nected with the country’s soon-to-be commercial-

ized 5G network.

“China is leading the way around the world in

5G service, which puts connectivity at the heart

of ... industries like automation, digitalization,

the use of big data and artificial intelligence. We

could help extend China’s 5G connectivity into

the sea, into the sky and into remote and rural

areas under a satellite-based network, serving as a

back-up to a terrestrial 5G network,” Pearce said.

UK mobile operator Three launched

its first 5G broadband service on

Monday, using Huawei wireless gear,

making it the third UK carrier to use

the Chinese telecommunications gi-

ant’s products despite the US push

for its allies to block the company.

Two other UK carriers – EE and

Vodafone – have also used Huawei’s

5G equipment.

Huawei’s 5G expansion in the UK

comes amid the US’ intensified glob-

al crackdown on the Chinese technol-

ogy giant, which included putting the

company on the Entity List in May.

It has also been pushing its allies to

block Huawei, citing so-called espio-

nage threat. But the US has failed to

provide any evidence.

Despite the ban, Huawei has been

steadily expanding its 5G footprint.

Huawei has secured 50 commer-

cial 5G contracts globally, of which

28 were from Europe, Chen Lifang,

president of the public affairs and

communications department, said.

The company shipped more than

150,000 5G base stations to markets

around the world as of the end of July.

“Huawei’s 5G equipment is highly

cost-effective, and if UK carriers shut

Huawei out, they are fully aware that

5G construction cost would be soar-

ing,” said Fu Liang, a Beijing-based

telecom industry expert.

During a trip to Huawei’s head-

quarters in Dongguan, South China’s

Guangdong Province in July, the

company’s technicians were also con-

fident about its 5G equipment and

believed the company could survive

the US crackdown. A Huawei techni-

cian told the Global Times that some

of this equipment is far ahead of the

company’s major rivals, and it would

take years for them to surpass the

Chinese company.

Huawei reported better-than-ex-

pected results in the first half of this

year. Revenue rose 23.2 percent year-

on-year to 401.3 billion yuan ($58.3

billion), while net profit was up 8.7

percent

Smartphone sales are also getting

back on track. NTT Docomo, Japan’s

largest telecommunications compa-

ny, said on its website on Tuesday that

it will resume taking reservations for

the Huawei P30 Pro smartphone as

of Wednesday after deferring sales of

Huawei’s new mobile phones in May.

Two other telecom operators, Soft-

bank and KDDI, also announced the

resumption of the sale of Huawei’s

new mobile phones.

On Monday, the US Department of

Commerce announced that it had put

46 additional subsidiaries of Huawei

on its Entity List, although it will ex-

tend the temporary general license,

which allows certain US companies

to continue supplying Huawei, for

another 90 days. The current 90-day

reprieve had been due to expire on

Monday.

Global Times

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Global communications

provider Inmarsat eyes

potential of China’s 5G

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