Mobile World Congress 2023: MTN Group and Huawei have entered into a wide-ranging partnership that will see the companies cooperate on environmental, social and governance matters.
The Pan-African telco and Huawei cemented this partnership by means of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023, currently under way, in Barcelona, Spain.
According to MTN, the MOU is aligned with its Ambition 2025strategy and Huawei’s corporate sustainability development strategy, including its TECH4ALLinitiative.
Huawei’s TECH4ALL is designed to help promote inclusion and sustainability in the digital world.
“Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress can only be achieved through the power of partnerships,” says MTN Group chief sustainability and corporate affairs officer Nompilo Morafo.
“Working with companies like Huawei, we can pool our technologies and expertise to drive greater access to connectivity, digital skills, and greener and more sustainable solutions to the benefit of all.”
Li Peng, member of Huawei’s supervisory board and president of Carrier BG, commented that Huawei expects to work closely with MTN Group on rural coverage, reaching net zero and digital skills training.
“We believe digital technology will become an important force driving social development and making the world more inclusive and sustainable.”
With a significant portion of Africa’s population living in rural areas, the partnership agreement seeks to accelerate efforts to reach more rural and remote communities, and broaden the portfolio of available digital skills training.
MTN notes the partnership with Huawei will support the achievement of its target of expanding its network to under-served communities and reach a target of 95% rural broadband coverage by 2025.
Huawei and MTN are also collaborating on deploying RuralStar, a connectivity solution for providing online access to remote and rural communities. “The solution overcomes traditional barriers that make network connectivity in such scenarios unviable for carriers. The parties will extend their collaboration following the completion of the first RuralStar proof-of-concept in Ghana in 2017.”
In terms of reducing carbon emissions, Huawei will support MTN's commitment to minimise the impact on the planet and achieve net zero by 2040.
“The partners will work on decarbonising MTN’s telecommunications infrastructure, spanning radio access network sites, transport networks, storage and data centres. Network decarbonisation will be done via a mix of energy-efficiency technologies and the application of innovative green solutions.”
MWC Barcelona 2023 is on until 2 March.
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