Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is increasingly under attack in the United States and the European Union, but is thriving in Africa.

The latest addition is a contract to set up a government data center in Senegal.

The company’s strategy in Africa was summarized in a question and answer session with a person in charge at the end of June. “Come to Africa for promotion and wealth,” Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, begged the staff.

The bottom line is that the company is trying to seduce the talent of young Chinese to go to Africa-called a “harsh place” -helping to set up an expanding venture on the continent. The company guarantees an advancing employee a standard of living “comparable to affluent Switzerland.”

For example, the Huawei office in South Sudan has two large villas, a basketball court, a swimming pool, a cinema, a concert hall and a coffee shop for staff.

Podcast: Interview with Eric Holland, Editor-in-Chief of the China Africa Project, about Huawei’s growing presence in Africa

Huawei is facing an increase in attacks from the West, increasing its willingness to seduce people. But in Africa, the company has a solid foundation. Currently, Huawei is active in most African countries. According to a survey by the Atlantic Council, “Indispensable Digital Infrastructure in the African Market,” about 50% of Africa’s 3G networks and 70% of 4G networks are built by Huawei.

Huawei State Support

Why is Huawei so much more successful in Africa than its competitors?

“Huawei has a significant competitive advantage because it has access to the state capital,” said Eric Hollander, editor-in-chief of the China Africa Project, a portal that monitors Chinese business ventures across the continent.

The company is currently negotiating a € 80 million contract, including 800km fiber optics and 900 surveillance cameras, for Burkina Faso’s “Smart Burkina” project, funded by Exim Bank of China.

In addition, Chinese companies are known to beat the competition, Hollander said.

“Nokia, Alcatel, Ericsson, Samsung [phones] All come in at a price of $ 10 / unit. Huawei and ZTE (another Chinese telecommunications giant) come in for $ 9, and even $ 8.

“Their overhead is low. For example, look at the hotel. The Alcatel guy is staying at a five-star hotel in Kinshasa. The Huawei guy isn’t,” he says.

As a result, Huawei and other Chinese companies are accelerating access to the Internet in Africa, providing a decisive trunk line between Africa and the rest of the world.

Trunk line

On May 14, 2020, China Mobile will join seven partners including Facebook, Mauritius-based West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), South Africa’s MTN Global Connect, Telecom Egypt, Saudi Telecom Providers STC, Vodafone and Orange. Creation of a 37,000km “2 Africa” ​​cable called the “most comprehensive submarine cable” connecting Africa and the Middle East.

The cable that surrounds the African Continent will land in 16 countries, supporting 5G growth and broadband access for hundreds of millions of people.

The announcement announced that HMN Technologies, a former subsidiary of Huawei, which was acquired by Hengtong in 2019, has begun construction of the 172 km Senegal Horn of Africa Regional Express (SHARE) cable, creating the first large capacity. It was done two weeks after that. A direct link from Africa to the islands off the coast of Cap-Vert.

“The SHARE system will accelerate the development of Senegal as a West African ICT hub and accelerate the development of the region’s digital and innovative economies,” Mr. Orlando added.

Since 2017, HMN Technologies has already been involved in the creation of the “PEACE” submarine cable, which connects East Asia and Africa and connects Europe with Marseille as a hub.

Data center revolution

On the continent itself, Huawei already offers a wide range of services, including providing a data center that stores important data for organizations from small businesses to governments.

Africa needs 1000 MW and 700 MW of data center facilities to meet demand, according to a report by the African Data Center Association.

The African Data Center Association (ADCA) and Xalam Analytics state that the rest of the continent requires significant investment to meet needs and reach the level of South Africa. And China is ready to go.

In 2019, DataCenter Dynamics (DCD), a portal to monitor global Internet infrastructure, reported that Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei will provide Kenya with data centers, smart cities and surveillance projects for around € 150 million.

In July 2020, the Cameroonian government also ordered Huawei’s Zamengoe data center in Cameroon. The project was also funded by Exim Bank in China.

The deal boosted Huawei after several countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, completely banned its 5G devices.

Elsewhere, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, is currently detained in Canada and accused of being involved in a breach of US sanctions against Iran. She also faces the possibility of being handed over to the United States.

But Huawei’s recent involvement in government data centers in Senegal changes the dynamics.

Senegal moves all government data to Huawei-operated data center

In June, DCD reported that its new data center at Digital Technology Park in Diamniadio will be managed by the State Informatics Agency (ADIE), a state IT company in Senegal.

The opening of the center marks an important milestone in Africa, according to Hollander of the China Africa Project. This is the first time a country has fully replicated China’s data governance model, and all servers need to be located within national boundaries to provide the country with full access to information, “he says. I will.

“The idea is to provide” cyber sovereignty. ” It’s an idea that goes against the free and open Internet principles that the United States has pioneered from the beginning. This is the exact opposite of the two. “

And that’s giving Washington a jitter.

“Washington is concerned that Huawei’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party is like putting the country in which the United States trades, or the United States itself, at security risk,” said the Netherlands.

He believes U.S. officials are afraid of “backdoors” in equipment that uses Huawei’s technology to provide Chinese with access to a wide range of data in the event of an emergency or conflict. .. In such situations, the United States is excluded.

Suspicion of espionage

Another concern is the allegations of Chinese espionage. An article by Le Monde on January 26, 2018 describes how Chinese technology can be used to store large amounts of sensitive data from the headquarters of the African Union (AU) in Shanghai.

Huawei (which provided most of the cyber software to AU Building) and AU denied the allegations, but the allegations persisted. They were supplied on August 19, 2019 by a Wall Street Journal survey claiming that Huawei engineers helped the African government spy on political opponents in Uganda and Zambia.

Holland disregards the claim. “Does Chinese technology facilitate espionage? Not as much as Ericsson’s technology does. That’s what people do with technology.

“We know [about] The US National Security Agency, detailed in Snowden’s treatise, describes how it was collecting so much information … such behavior is common in international state institutions. ” He says.

“Excellent business relationship”

Despite concerns from the United States and its allies, French telecommunications giant Orange CEO Stephen Richard announced at Mobile World Congress on June 29, 2021 in Barcelona that Chinese vendors of mobile phone hardware Although shunned in Europe, the company believes it’s okay to work with Huawei in Africa, which has the upper hand as a supplier of equipment to many carriers.

“We’re working more and more with Chinese vendors in Africa, not because we like China, but we have a great business relationship with Huawei,” he said.

“While European vendors hesitated, they have invested in Africa.”

Originally published on RFI