Pinnacle's Fred Saayman on Huawei and disruption [promoted]

Loading player...
Fred Saayman, head of the Huawei business unit at Pinnacle, returns to the podcast for a discussion on the impact of US sanctions on the Chinese ICT giant's business, especially in the South African context.
In the podcast, Saayman explains that Huawei has made good progress dealing with the challenges that have been thrown at it in the past year, including developing its own chipsets and other technologies across its wide range of products to lessen its reliance on other suppliers.
"I would never have believed an organisation could actually change and transform, research, develop and innovate in such a short period of time - it's impressive," he said.
"With the speed and agility of its supply chain, Huawei has been able to address all of its customer orders. They remain bullish on 5G base stations. They have made plans and they are now a lot more self-sufficient."
Saayman talks about what the South African business community thinks about Huawei and the US sanctions. "They are still optimistic... South African customers, whether it's the financial industry or mining or the public sector, they are still very favourable towards Huawei."
Don't miss the discussion!
21 Jul 2020 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | Donovan Marsh on AI and the future of filmmaking

Award-winning South African film director Donovan Marsh has pivoted to artificial intelligence filmmaking and believes generative AI tools could fundamentally reshape how movies are made – and who gets to make them. Marsh, whose 30-year career includes directing the Hollywood submarine thriller Hunter Killer starring Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman,…
7 Apr 52 min

TCS+ | Vodacom Business moves to crack the SME tech gap

Everyone agrees that small and medium enterprises are the backbone of the South African economy. But the reality on the ground tells a different story – too many small businesses are still running on spreadsheets and WhatsApp, locked out of the tools that could help them compete. In this episode…
5 Apr 34 min

TCS | MTN’s Divyesh Joshi on the strategy behind Pi

MTN South Africa has launched Pi, a digital-only mobile operator that runs on MTN’s network but operates as a standalone brand, offering contract-free mobile and home 5G connectivity through a single app, with no call centres, no credit checks and no lock-in. In this episode of the TechCentral Show, TechCentral…
1 Apr 21 min

TCS | Anoosh Rooplal on the Post Office’s last stand

The South African Post Office has been in business rescue – a form of bankruptcy protection – since July 2023. Business rescue practitioners Anoosh Rooplal and Juanito Damons have made it clear to parliament that the entity will not survive liquidation unless a R3.8-billion bailout is received soon. With some…
27 Mar 27 min

Meet the CIO | Healthbridge CTO Anton Fatti on the future of digital health

Anton Fatti, chief technology officer of HealthBridge, says the doctor-patient relationship must remain at the centre of digital transformation in healthcare, even as AI reshapes how medical practices operate. Speaking on TechCentral’s Meet the CIO podcast series, brought to you by NTT DATA, Fatti said AI and cloud computing are…
23 Mar 45 min