Huawei is reportedly a front-runner for all or part of a major LTE rollout contract from SingTel's Australian subsidiary Optus.
Fairfax Media, citing an industry executive source, said Optus is likely to win a chunk or the entirety of the latest LTE rollout contract, which could be worth over A$2 billion ($2.07 billion).
For Huawei, the deal could represent another chance to carve out a greater foothold in the Australian market, after the vendor was last year banned from tendering for projects under the National Broadband Network (NBN) fiber rollout due to security concerns.
Because the ban was imposed at a time when US lawmakers had increased scrutiny on Huawei and ZTE – the US House Intelligence Committee issued a report two months later urging telcos not to procure equipment from the Chinese vendors – pundits speculated that the ban was a diplomatic move by Australian politicians to avoid embarrassment to one of its closest allies by awarding Huawai a public infrastructure project.
But with the pressure off to some extent, Huawei may be able to use an Optus contract as a springboard to winning NBN business – particularly if the opposition party wins the next election and implements its alternative NBN plan.
Separately, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei has revealed that his successor will not be a family member, according to a Reutersreport.
The news agency has obtained an internal company letter telling employees that Ren's family members will not be in the running for the successor race.
The latter states that a successor needs to have “vision, character and ambition” as well as “a good global perspective and the acumen to drive the business,” and that Ren's family members don't have these qualities.
Huawei is currently employing a revolving CEO system, whereby three executives take six-month stints at the helm, but will eventually appoint a permanent successor.