Photo: Shen Weiduo/GT

Mass-scale 5G deployment in Huawei's major overseas target markets has already started, said Yang Chaobin, president of Huawei's 5G Product Line, on Friday, noting that its 5G revenue in overseas markets has maintained rapid growth despite the coronavirus.

The firm announced in February that it had secured 91 5G commercial contracts around the world, with 47 - more than half - from Europe, and 27 from Asia. Industry analysts have been doubting whether the firm's 5G contracts in overseas markets can go on as planned, given mounting pressure from the Trump administration.

When asked about how many contracts the firm has secured in the world in the past months, Yang told the Global Times in Shanghai that "there's no real meaning in counting contracts now," adding that in many scenarios, only Huawei can offer the solutions that customers need, indicating its technology strength.

However, Yang did not disclose what the so-called overseas target markets are, and how many more contracts it has secured.

Although the coronavirus pandemic has affected Huawei's 4G revenue in the overseas market, its 5G revenue has maintained a rapid growth momentum, Yang said.

Yang made the comments as Huawei remains under pressure from the US government for over a year. The Trump administration has pressed its allies to avoid using Huawei's 5G equipment, citing so-called national security reasons but failing to provide any evidence.

Nevertheless, downplaying the impact of the US crackdown, Huawei held a two-day 11th Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBB), a 5G industry forum in Shanghai from Thursday to Friday, during which it vowed to speed up 5G construction with industry partners, and welcome the "golden era" for 5G development in the next 10 years.

During the forum, it invited industry players from the country's major telecom carriers as well as representatives and corporate leaders from industry, regulatory and research organizations around the world to discuss future 5G development and reflect on what's been achieved so far.

"The next decade will be a golden age for 5G. The industry needs to have faith, to build the best networks possible for consumers, and to nurture new capabilities for customers to maximize the value of wireless networks for a golden decade of 5G," Ryan Ding, president of Huawei's Carrier BG, said at the forum.