In a strategic move aimed boost Africa’s ICT Innovation capacity, MTN Group and Huawei have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a Joint Innovation Technology Lab cooperation.
Speaking at signing ceremony Barcelona, Spain officials said this strategic partnership will see the creation of an Innovation Technology Lab at MTN Group’s headquarters in South Africa.
The lab will serve as a neutral platform for collaboration within the Africa’s digital ecosystem, accelerating the development, deployment and adoption of innovative digital solutions driven across the continent.
Together, the two companies will leverage this initiative to focus their research and development efforts on key areas such as 5G and beyond, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data analytics, cloud computing, and digital financial services.
The partnership aims to accelerate the time-to-market of MTN’s products and services while addressing the unique challenges faced in Africa, including improving network coverage in rural areas, enhancing energy efficiency, and affordability.
Additionally, MTN’s operational teams will actively participate in the innovation process, ensuring the solutions developed directly address real-world challenges and drive meaningful digital transformation and sustainable development in Africa.
Group Chief Technology and Information Officer Mazen Mroué expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership stating, “The Joint Innovation Technology Lab is more than a partnership between two companies; it’s an investment in the growth of Africa’s digital ecosystem. We believe that collaboration is essential for developing solutions that truly meet the continent’s needs, and this Lab will pave the way for a more inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous future for Africa.”
Li Peng, Huawei’s Corporate Senior Vice President and President of ICT Sales & Service, said, “Huawei will continue innovating with MTN to ensure they have the products and solutions required to best serve Africa’s unique market. This will not only give MTN a competitive edge in terms of network quality, user experience, and rapid deployment, but also help MTN achieve their own business objectives. We believe that this newly-established lab will help supercharge both MTN’s R&D as well as Africa’s digital economy, bringing more prosperity to the African continent.”
This partnership further demonstrates MTN and Huawei’s shared commitment to shaping Africa’s digital landscape, opening new pathways for innovation and digital inclusion, and economic growth.
With the 2024 commercial launch of 5.5G, Huawei is collaborating with operators and partners around the world to pursue exciting new innovation in networks, cloud, and intelligence.
Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. We have 207,000 employees and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people around the world.
“Our vision and mission is to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. To this end, we will work towards ubiquitous connectivity and inclusive network access, laying the foundation for an intelligent world; provide diversified computing power where you need it, when you need it, to bring cloud and intelligence to all four corners of the earth; build digital platforms to help all industries and organizations become more agile, efficient, and dynamic; and redefine user experience with AI, making it smarter and more personalized for people in all aspects of their life, whether they’re at home, on the go, in the office, having fun, or working out,”Sooma Mukyala Huawei Publicist said.
