Huawei appointed Vincent Pang as president of operations in Western Europe, replacing Kevin Tao who is now taking on a new position at the equipment vendor's global headquarters in China.
Pang has already worked in Western Europe as regional VP and president of global sales and key accounts, and therefore should be well versed in the demands of the region.
Eric Xu, Huawei's deputy chairman and rotating CEO, said: "After working in Western Europe for many years, Vincent Pang has accumulated extensive experience in this market. I have every confidence that, after taking office, he will lead the team to continue creating more value for customers with our local partners."
Huawei said Pang will seek to deepen long-term partnerships with local players, noting that Western Europe is a key region for the vendor as a strategic market and a global competence centre. The company now employs 9,900 staff in Europe and runs 18 R&D sites in eight European countries.
The Chinese vendor, which like Ericsson will face a stronger challenge from rivals Nokia Networks and Alcatel-Lucent if the two companies succeed in their plans to merge, has continually stressed that Europe is important to its future growth.
In addition to establishing a 5G research centre in the UK, the company pledged to increase spending in the region from an estimated $3.7 billion (€3.4 billion) in 2014 to around $4.08 billion in 2015.
The company recently received validation from the Netherlands, after Prime Minister Mark Rutte praised Huawei's contribution to the development of the country's ICT infrastructure. Also in March, Huawei revealed that an independent UK cyber security team established by the company in 2010 has cleared it of posing any danger to the country's national security.
Huawei's international expansion has been dogged by claims that the company poses a security risk due to links to China's government and the fact that founder Ren Zhengfei was once an officer in the country's People's Liberation Army.
For more:
- see this Huawei release
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