Huawei Inks its First Sports Sponsorship Deal as Exclusive Sponsor of the 2011 Italian Supercoppa

Beijing, July 6, 2011: Huawei, a leading telecom solutions provider, today announced the signing of its first international sports sponsorship deal – an exclusive sponsorship of the 2011 Italian Supercoppa (Supercoppa Italiana), a face-off between two of Italy’s top football teams – A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. This is the first time that these two teams are meeting in the Italian Supercoppa. The game will be held on August 6 at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the “Bird’s Nest”, in Beijing, China. With a potential viewership of hundreds of millions around the world, Huawei will be leveraging the tournament to establish itself as a global consumer brand and to promote its concerted effort to integrate cloud solutions into all of its upcoming smart phones and devices.

"Huawei is thrilled to sponsor this top-notch competition that football fans all over the world are looking forward to,” said Victor Xu, chief marketing officer of Huawei Device. “This title sponsorship marks Huawei’s transformation from a B2B company to a consumer-centric brand. Consumers will be able to experience a new generation of Huawei “Cloud Phones” ."

Huawei is one of very few global companies whose business spans across telecoms infrastructure, professional services, application and software, and devices. This provides a solid foundation for the offering of “Cloud Phones”- mobile devices based on a global cloud computing platform that offers consumers cloud services, anytime, anywhere.

"Huawei’s “Cloud Phones” are not just upgrades to existing smartphones. We are creating a new smartphone category which will lead to a brand new smartphone experience and open up a new era for the telecoms industry. Huawei’s ‘Cloud Phones’ will provide cloud services that meet the needs of different consumers, making it easy to share music, movies, customized data such as restaurants and shopping information and many other forms of digital content. Huawei “Cloud Phones” will offer safer and faster data transmission and storage,“ said Victor Xu. “The sponsorship of the Italian Supercoppa is the beginning of Huawei’s multi-facet marketing approach that will include branding, new channels and new products, underpinned by a comprehensive range of Huawei’s new “Cloud Devices’."

The Supercoppa sponsorship also symbolizes a milestone of Huawei’s new marketing and branding strategy, a shift from business-focused to customer-oriented and a march into open channels that entail operators, resellers, retails and e-commerce, increasing the accessibility of Huawei-branded smart devices.  Consumers will be able to choose from Huawei’s comprehensive product portfolio including flagship and mid-range devices as well as products available to the mass market.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Wang Hui, CEO, Beijing United Vansen International Sports Co. Ltd, organizer of the Supercoppa in China, said, “We are very pleased to have Huawei on board as the exclusive sponsor of the Italian Supercoppa. We are confident that the tournament, which features the best Italian football has to offer, will help Huawei to engage with audiences worldwide.”

To celebrate the sponsorship, audiences attending the Italian Supercoppa will have the opportunity to experience Huawei’s line of smart devices through onsite demonstrations from July 23 to August 5 in an outdoor carnival at the Bird’s Nest.