Huawei Australia gets new CEO

Chinese telecom vendor Huawei has appointed a new CEO to lead its Australian operations.

James Zhao has been named CEO of Huawei Australia, following the promotion of Guo Fulin to a regional role.

Zhao was most recently Huawei's global account director for India-based mobile giant Bharti Airtel. He has been working at the vendor in various roles since 2000.

Huawei has been aggressively pursuing Australian growth for the past several years. The vendor set up its first local board of directors in the market after the then-Labor government reportedly banned the vendor from participating in NBN tenders in 2012.

Announcing the appointment, Huawei Australia said its revenues have grown from $132 million in 2009 to $368 million in 2012. The subsidiary also employs more than 700 staff, of which around 85% are locals.

The appointment forms part of Huawei's policy of rotating its top executives through different markets to give them a breadth of management experience. John Lord, chairman of Huawei's Australian board and a former Rear Admiral of the Australian Navy, said this practice is a good example of Huawei's style of “Western governance with Chinese characteristics”.

Pictured: Huawei Australia CEO James Zhao.