Shenzhen - Chinese telecoms equipment company Huawei will open another training centre in Angola as it expects bullish growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The company's revenue from the region last year grew to $2 billion (R22 billion at yesterday's exchange rate) from $1.6 billion in the previous year.

In July the company opened its first training centre in South Africa, bringing its centres on the continent to a total of five - with others in Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Kenya - to cater for the rapid growth in new wireless technologies such as WiMax at operators including Neotel and MTN.

Bo Xue, the company's managing director for sub-Saharan Africa, said on Friday that there was a need for specialists in technologies such as WiMax and fourth generation, and that getting them from China or Europe was a short-term solution. The sustainable long-term solution would be to invest in training local people.

Xue added that Huawei's success could be attributed to its responsiveness to customers' needs, providing customised products and services, and investment in research and development (R&D).

Ross Gan, Huawei's global head of corporate communications, said that although the company's growth was spread evenly across all the markets where it operated, emerging markets' growth was bullish because of population growth and low telecoms penetration rates.

Huawei, which was established in 1988, invests 10 percent of its annual revenue in R&D.

It has 12 R&D centres worldwide, with the biggest in China and India. About 43 percent of Huawei's 87 000 employees are in R&D activities.

Ross Gan, Huawei's global head of corporate communications, said that although the company's growth was spread evenly across all the markets where it operated, emerging markets' growth was bullish because of population growth and low telecoms penetration rates.

Huawei, which was established in 1988, invests 10 percent of its annual revenue in R&D.

It has 12 R&D centres worldwide, with the biggest in China and India. About 43 percent of Huawei's 87 000 employees are in R&D activities. the Middle East over the past five years.

The company opened its offices in South Africa in 1998. Its South African revenue was $40 million last year, while sales in Nigeria were $600 million.

Further growth is expected this year following new contracts from companies such as Neotel