CHINESE TECH GIANT Hauwei has announced plans to launch three stores on UK high streets days after the British Government announced plans to remove the company’s 5G infrastructure from its network.
Huawei’s consumer arm said that the £10 million expansion plan shows “the confidence we have in our future here” following strong growth in its mobile phone business, and that the new stores will create over 100 jobs.
Last month, Huawei opened its first service centre site in Wembley, London, and the expansion plan will see the business open its first UK shop.
The retail store will open in the Olympic Park in Stratford in October, with plans to open a retail and service site in Manchester in February next year, it said.
Huawei said it will also open an “experience store” in London early next year.
The new stores will feature its full range of consumer products including smartphones, laptops, tablets, headphones, earbuds, smartwatches, fitness bands and speakers, it said.
The UK store openings follow the launch of stores in Madrid, Barcelona and Paris over the past 12 months.
Anson Zhang, managing director of Huawei’s UK consumer business group, said: “We are excited to be making this strong commitment to the UK, and to be coming to the high street to deliver our innovative new devices and experiences direct to the millions of people who own and love our products.
“We know that millions of people here in the UK love our products and we’re delighted we will now have these new high street spaces where we can interact with our owners in a more personal way”.
The tech company’s 5G arm is operated separately to its 5G operation.
On Tuesday, the UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden stood in the House of Commons and announced, to largely cross-party support, that Huawei technology would be removed from Britain’s 5G phone network by 2027.
He also confirmed that no new Huawei components from the Chinese company would be bought after 31 December.
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