Huawei, ZTE make inroads into Colombian market

A pedestrian talks on her mobile phone as she walks past a store of Huawei in Yichang city, Central China's Hubei province, Sept 1, 2015. [Photo / IC]

BOGOTA -- Huawei and ZTE are building up their presence in Colombia, counting on the quality of their products to attract local consumers.

The two Chinese tech giants are now mainstays in the Latin American country thanks to their smartphone and telephone infrastructure, outweighing other global competitors in the country.

"We have been in Colombia for 10 years, but we have seen rapid development in the past three years. Last year, we have focused on the consumer market, which helped us double our earnings. We continue to lead the sector and help Colombia build its digital future. Our brand is now well-recognized among the Colombian public," Eric Che, the regional manager of Huawei Consumer Business Group, told Xinhua.

Ivan Sierra, ZTE's accounts director in Colombia, said: "Colombia has become a strategic country, not only for the development of the cellphone market, but for many other business units."

The two multinationals have also contributed to the development of cellphone technology in Colombia by promoting the training of human capital in the sector.

"We have created training centers for local employees and we are cooperating with educational institutions as well. Since last year, we have launched a training program, where we pick top Colombian graduates and invite them to learn in China," said Che of Huawei.

For this reason, both companies see social investment as a very important factor in all their markets, including Colombia. "For 20 years, we have kept a social investment program led by our own president and managed directly from China," said Sierra of ZTE.

This commitment to Colombia has paid off for Huawei as it has grown by 40 percent last year in Colombia, bringing in $678 million.

For its part, ZTE has secured a 12.5 percent market share, and is positioning itself as the main supplier of mobile data cards for cellphones.

Both companies are contributing to the expansion of 4G LTE technology in Colombia, which now has the largest number of 4G LTE users in Latin America.