40 percent sales rise claimed by China’s telecom equipment producer Huawei

One of the greatest telecommunications equipment maker in China, Huawei Technologies Co., saw its global sales rise 40 percent last year to US$8.2 billion (6.8 billion euros) in 2005, the company reported. The company, based in Shenzhen, the southern city, said its overseas sales accounted for US$4.75 billion (4.9 billion euros) or more than half of that total. It was the first year in which overseas sales exceeded domestic sales, the company said in a press release seen Tuesday.

Founded by the Chinese military to produce high-tech communications gear, Huawei has very fast expanded into civilian telecommunications, selling low-cost equipment in other developing countries.

It has tried with only mixed success to break into the United States and other developed markets, although the company claims dozens of big name customers such as British Telecom, Singapore's Sing Tel, and Vodafone, reports the AP.

D.M.