LIVE FROM GLOBAL 5G EVENT, VALENCIA: Du Yeqing, VP of 5G product line at Huawei declared Spain as the troubled vendor’s second homeland, while expressing hope the company would be able to share its 5G experiences and resources with the rest of the world.

Speaking in a session on the vertical 5G opportunity, Yeqing was keen to emphasise the importance of the Spanish market, as the Chinese vendor continues to face scrutiny over the security of its networks in other major countries.

He said Huawei was committed to bringing Spain to the forefront of 5G, noting the feats it had achieved so far in the country, including a partnership with Vodafone Spain to bring 5G to 15 cities this month.

Yeqing expressed hope Huawei can extend its 5G experiences globally, while noting it had already secured more than 40 contracts for the technology and deployed 100,000 base stations.

In the presentation, he also provided some lofty forecasts, predicting 5G subscriptions will reach 100 million globally by the end of 2020, increasing to 500 million by 2022. The progress compared to 4G is “three years ahead”, he said.

Driving this growth is the development of the wider ecosystem, which will include access to cheaper 5G devices.

He said the company was looking at launching mid-range 5G smartphones by 2020, available at around the $300 mark. This year, he expects all smartphone vendors will have 5G phones available and noted 27 countries have already conducted spectrum auctions: this will increase to more than 40 countries in 2020.