Huawei names William Zhao as Chief Operating Officer of India R&D Centre

NEW DELHI: The Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei has appointed William Zhao as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) of India Research and Development (R&D) centre.

"Huawei's first and largest R&D center outside of China, focused on developing ICT software, end-to-end telecom solutions, consumer device software and providing professional services for global operators," claimed by the company.

As the COO, William has complete management responsibility, delivering on the company’s vision and developing its long-term investment and strategic plan for India.

He is responsible for enhancing Huawei Technologies India’s position as the most competitive R&D center in Huawei, expanding the center’s operations and leading new business growth areas.

His mission includes strengthening end-to-end ownership of products, establishing leadership in open source development & community contribution, enabling transformation in Software & Service domain and enhancing smartphone product ownership.

William said “Rapid developments in ICT industry such as broadband, cloud computing, Big Data, IoT are driving the tremendous advancement of society. ICT is an important tool helping people overcome the limits of time and space to stay connected, as well as a powerful driver for technological innovation, management transformation, and business restructuring.

With a team of over 3000 highly skilled Indian engineers and professionals, the India R&D centre of Huawei is committed to building a better connected World with our innovative ICT products, services and solutions, creating value for global customers and consumers.”

William joined Huawei in 1997. In his more than18 years’ career with Huawei, William held several senior positions across different divisions in Huawei and has managed more than 100 projects with successful implementations all over the world.

He served as the Director of a Product Development Unit in Carrier Software product line from 2013 to 2015. And prior to that, William was also engaged in a wide range of functions in Core Network Department, which enriched his experience on product development and human resource management.

William holds a Master’s Degree in Computer from the Aerospace Industry Research Center.

William comes from An Hui Province. His family includes his wife and two 17 year old twin daughters.

William succeeds Mr. Wilson Wang, who has taken up a leadership role in Huawei‘s Digital Services Development Management at Huawei, China, after a four-year stint at the Indian R&D centre.