Huawei's ambitious plan to surpass Cisco by sales

Huawei Technologies Co may surpass US-based Cisco Systems Inc to become the leading telepresence equipment firm by sales, China's biggest telecommunications equipment maker said yesterday.

Huawei aims to more than triple its total revenue to US$100 billion by 2021 from US$32.3 billion last year and plans to tap the market for telepresence equipment, which refers to high-quality video conference system, as the firm is in a "transformational phase" and seeks more revenue streams.

Shenzhen-based Huawei's sales of telepresence equipment doubled to about US$200 million last year, giving the firm about 20 percent of the global market, according to Li Jun, general manager of products at Huawei's enterprise unit.

Cisco has 50 percent of the global market that's worth about US$900 million, Bloomberg News reported Li as saying in Beijing yesterday.

Huawei said its top telepresence product, the TP3106, costs US$160,000 while Cisco charges US$300,000 for a similar product.

Huawei, the world's No. 2 telecom equipment maker, expects revenue to grow 15 to 20 percent annually this year on the booming telecom service and smartphone sectors.

In April, Huawei posted revenue of US$32.3 billion for 2011, up 11.7 percent annually. Comparatively, world leader Ericsson Inc posted revenue of US$33.7 billion last year.