Huawei Continues Stable Growth on the Croatian Market

Huawei is the second in the field of smartphones on the Croatian market, and in the last year by months, the share was 30 percent, while in the segment of smartwatches at the end of 2020 they reached number one, points out for ICTbusiness.info the new CEO of Huawei Croatia Kevin Zhang. According to him, the lack of pre-installed Google applications does not change much because the device can access Gmail, maps, and everything else. The user experience may not be identical, but it's certainly not a factor that has hurt us badly, Zhang explains.

Zhang points out that Croatia is growing steadily when it comes to the telecommunications segment so that business plans and prospects have not changed in the Carrier segment. "We have continuous opportunities to work in the segments of fixed broadband and mobile broadband, and 5G will push the market." Zhang points out.

How many smartphones, wearables, smartwatches were sold in 2020, and how much is that growth compared to 2019?

Our sales in 2020 met our business plans. In the smartphone segment, we kept the second biggest smartphone producer position by market share, which is close to 30% in some months. We had tremendous growth in wearables sales. From the first smartwatch we sold in 2019, we have finished 2020 as the biggest smartphone seller. We demand tablets, laptops, wearables, and other devices, which gives us the confidence to reach ambitious targets in 2021.

In the smartphone segment, how much of an impact has the lack of Google services had, and what has been achieved with our own app store?

The lack of pre-installed Google apps doesn't change much. Gmail, maps and everything else can be accessed. Maybe user experience is not identical, but it is certainly not some factor that has hurt us greatly.

People still, for a year and a half since the beginning of that story, equally consider buying our device. We know this from our research. But what is even more important is that after consideration they still decide to buy. And after the purchase, they do not return the phones and have a positive user experience. For us, the story is simple, we explain the reality to them transparently. You can use most of the most important applications, especially those that are irreplaceable.

In less than a year we have added all the important applications to AppGallery, which is our official application distribution platform in Croatia.  In AppGallery you can find almost all the essential apps. What is important is that the developers themselves realized that due to the high market share of Huawei if they want to address targeted audience on the market, they can't do it without have an app on AppGallery. In AppGallery you can find mobile banking apps from PBZ, Zaba, OTP, Erste Bank, RBA, HPB, HT, A1, Tele2, Optima telekom, Njuškalo, Multiplus Card, mPretinac, Hrvatska Pošta, Cammeo taxi... all media etc.

What is the situation on the network equipment market, primarily in the 4G or 5G network segment, because Croatian telecom operators have been building existing 4G networks and preparing for the forthcoming commercialization of 5G networks? What is in the fixed telephony segment?

We are growing stable in Croatia, so our business plans and perspectives didn't change in the telecom operators market segment (Carrier BG). We have continuous good opportunities both in the fixed broadband and mobile broadband network segments. Of course, 5G will boost the market, bring a wide range of business opportunities to the telecom operators and many advantages in the form of new high-quality services for the end users in Croatia - especially after the upcoming 5G spectrum auction (expected in June/July) is completed. In the interest of every country's digital development plans, it is to have an open, fair and objective attitude to providers of 5G equipment and infrastructure and choose the ones that are best suited to their needs irrelevant of the geopolitical circumstances.

How is Huawei position in the segment of 4G modems, $ G routers with WiFI options such as solutions for mobile telecom operators?

Huawei is also present in the domain of 4G and 5G customer premises equipment (CPE) using the power of 4G and 5G mobile networks to provide MBB replacements where FBB infrastructure cannot meet the current requirements of end users. All of Huawei's latest 4G/5G CPEs come with WiFi6 capability to provide the best possible customer experience on the end-user side.