Wilson Wang, the newly-appointed chief operating officer of Huawei Technologies in India is going to be a busy man.
Wilson, who holds a Master’s Degree in Communications and Information Systems from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is expected to play a key role in India in customising the company’s software applications and services to tune these with the changing requirements of Indian telcos, as well as making India R&D integral to the company’s global team, “strengthening end-to-end ownership of products”. Wang was earlier handling the Chinese telecom equipment and networking major’s application & software product-line in Shenzhen, China. No doubt, his appointment as COO of its first and the largest R&D facility outside of China does not come as a big surprise.
India, other than having a sizable R&D team of about 2,700 people, is also a big market for Huawei technologies. The company is said to be the second largest in India in the telecom networking and equipment space, next only to market leader Ericsson. In calendar 2011, the company clocked about $1.2 billion in revenue from India. In the current year, it is aiming for growth of at least 40 per cent, accordingly to highly-placed sources in the company. Wang’s role is expected to be crucial, given that the Indian telecom market is going through a rough patch after the 2G scam and cancellation of licences of telcos.
Many believe a posting in India is significant. Making the top people at Huawei work in a different culture and environment helps groom them for leadership positions. For example, Justin Chen, earlier heading the Indian R&D, has now been entrusted with the role of global president of Huawei’s BSS (business support systems) product line, a significant division of the company.
