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Huawei opens first Northern office with 5G focus
The communications giant has opened its first Northern office in Manchester after taking 4,000 sq ft at the Blue Tower at Salford’s MediaCityUK.
Huawei’s base at Salford Quays will house operations including customer account teams, and the company’s network design and delivery operations centre for the north of the UK. Initially, up to 50 roles will be created at the Blue Tower.
China-based Huawei operates in 170 countries across the world, and the Salford Quays office will be its fourth in the UK; it also has bases in London, Reading, and Ipswich.
Jerry Wang, Huawei UK chief executive, said: “The North West is an important region for Huawei as we look to continue our growth in the UK.
“Greater Manchester’s talented workforce and emerging tech scene make it an exciting city to invest in, the city is now at the forefront of healthcare and university tech-led innovations today.”
Stephen Wild, managing director of MediaCityUK, said: “Huawei’s decision to base part of its UK operations here further demonstrates MediaCityUK to be a leading creative, technological and digital hub in the UK.
“Over the next decade MediaCityUK is set to expand physically and evolve digitally, meaning we can welcome even more cutting-edge organisations from a variety of sectors and host more incubator and accelerator programmes. Our 5G infrastructure will support these advancements and will also enable us to test and hone our smart city ambitions.”
Huawei will be rubbing shoulders with Vodafone which opened a digital innovation hub at The Landing in MediaCityUK. Vodafone was also the first company in the UK to stream 5G over a commercial network in October 2018, located at Manchester’s media hub.
Salford City Council also released a tender in July searching for a digital infrastructure partner to help deliver a 5G network. In the tender Salford said: “It is vital that we have the right infrastructure across every area of our city to be ready to support service on 5G handsets and deliver 5G use cases and associated businesses.” The partner has yet to be announced.
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