Huawei to Start Africa Data Center Services From March – Bloomberg
What happened: Chinese telecommunications company Huawei is working with South African partners to launch services at its first cloud data center in the country in March. The center will be opened in Johannesburg, followed by another one in the coastal city of Cape Town at a later date. Huawei also said it would deploy localized public cloud services based on domestic policies and requirements as part of its plan for a fully-connected Africa driven by data and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Why it’s important: Huawei’s expansion in Africa comes as it faces international pressure on its overseas operations. US carrier T-Mobile CEO John Legere said on Wednesday that the carrier doesn’t use equipment from Huawei “in any area of its network.” Governments across Europe are weighing restrictions on Huawei over concerns about the security of its equipment. During the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Huawei Chairman Liang Hua denied the claims the company conducts espionage for the Chinese government, saying Huawei is being unfairly targeted without any proof.