TIANJIN, China -- Huawei Technologies ('Huawei' ), a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, today launched its new joint venture company 'Huawei Marine Networks' with its JV partner Global Marine Systems Limited ("Global Marine"). Huawei Marine starts business from today following an unveiling ceremony this afternoon in Tianjin, China.

The new company will be headquartered in Tianjin with R&D institutes and manufacturing bases in Beijing, Shenzhen, and the United Kingdom. Mr. Ping Guo, Chief Strategy Officer of Huawei, has been appointed chairman while Ian Douglas, Director of Global Marine, assumes the position of CEO for Huawei Marine.

In recently years, demand for submarine bandwidth has risen sharply as operators transition to all-IP networks and as consumers continue to embrace more bandwidth-intensive multimedia applications over the Internet. According to industry analysis, the global submarine cable market scale is expected to reach US$2 billion annually over the next five years. Based on the huge increase in submarine cable market, Huawei Marine will gradually establish a strategic partnership with customers throughout the globe, and spare no efforts to meet their demand.

"Some industry-leading players have been dominating the submarine cable market for many years. Recently, Huawei has successfully completed the submarine cable expansion projects for CAT, Hibernia, Med Nautilus, and Level 3. Huawei Marine will bring together both parent companies' advanced expertise and resources in this area to provide end-to-end submarine cable solutions, and offer a new choice for customers." said Mr. Ping Guo, Chairman of Huawei Marine.

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.