Hangzhou, China, October 18, 2017: Huawei kicked off the fourth Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF) today at the Hangzhou International Expo Center, bringing together more than 800 experts and executives from telecom carriers, vertical industries, regulators, standards bodies, and industry organizations. The theme of the event is "Grow with All-Cloud Network", highlighting the steps carriers could consider to seize strategic opportunities in industry digitization and achieve new growth.

Industries the world over are going digital, faster. Companies that once allocated budgets to IT equipment are now buying cloud services, essentially extending to become part of the wide-area networks of carriers. Bandwidth required will grow tenfold, and low latency is undoubtedly needed for cloud services. Fiber-to-the- enterprise (FTTE) naturally comes in as must-have infrastructure. As companies seek out cloud services in larger numbers, providing leased line services for the B2B segment will be a new source of growth for telecom carriers.

Speaking of this unique mix of challenges and opportunities, Huawei Rotating CEO Eric Xu emphasized that "Huawei is committed to working with carriers to build compelling leased line services for the B2B segment, to navigate the challenges and to seize the opportunities from increasing adoption of cloud services."

A Huawei survey shows that government and enterprise customers have three major requirements for leased line services: on-demand, flexible services at competitive prices; rapid, easy service provisioning with bandwidth on demand; and SLAs that can be visualized, checked, and assured.

According to Xu, carriers need to re-position their leased line business by improving it in several respects, such as business strategy development, product portfolio management, customer experience management, and network planning and build-out. Xu reaffirmed Huawei's commitment to helping carriers provide agile leased line services with a compelling customer experience. He specified five initiatives the company is taking to support carriers in this market:

1. Providing a cloud-based leased line solution that enables carriers to meet demand for cloud services.

2. Helping carriers tap into their strengths in cloud-network synergy and provide integrated solutions that combine leased line connectivity with cloud services offered by carriers themselves, jointly with partners, or via resale from third-party cloud service providers.

3. Helping carriers enhance their competitive edge by cloudifying their networks to provide agile, on-demand leased line services that meet the evolving needs of different enterprises.

4. Working with carriers to expand their B2B connectivity services to the enterprise campus, for which they can provide LAN, Wi-Fi, and managed services.

5. Helping carriers breathe new life into their leased line business by delivering a compelling experience throughout the customer journey, from product discovery to purchase and use.

Xu concluded his speech by noting that "cloud services present both opportunities and challenges to carriers' leased line business. One of the most prominent challenges comes from cloud service providers: They are eyeing the B2B market, too." He said, "Together with our carrier customers, we will leverage our leading technology and solutions to build agile leased line services with a compelling customer experience. Together, we will face new challenges and latch on to new opportunities."