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RMIT, Huawei team up for NBN courses

Chinese network vendor Huawei has teamed up with RMIT University to start its Next Generation Technology Training Centre in Melbourne, which is aimed at educating future engineers in network technology for the National Broadband Network (NBN).
Written by Josh Taylor, Contributor

Chinese network vendor Huawei has teamed up with RMIT University to start its Next Generation Technology Training Centre in Melbourne, which is aimed at educating future engineers in network technology for the National Broadband Network (NBN).

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Victorian ICT Minister John Lenders, Acting vice chancellor and president Professor Daine Alcoren, Huawei CEO Guo Fulin and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy (Credit: Suzanne Tindal)

The centre, foreshadowed by ZDNet Australia in May, was announced today by Victorian Minister for Information and Communication Technology, John Lenders, at RMIT University this morning.

"Huawei has chosen Victoria as its training base and RMIT University as its lead university to drive its entry into the next-generation broadband market, training 1000 students nationally — including 500 in Victoria — over the next three years," Lenders said in a statement.

"A major part of the centre's function will be training people across the ICT industry on next-generation technology, with a particular focus on products and hardware for the NBN," he said.

Huawei staff will be brought into RMIT classrooms that will be equipped with Huawei equipment and devices. The students will be trained in new technologies such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) and next-generation broadband applications.

It was also in negotiations with other universities to offer similar courses around Australia and will look to train between 1000 to 2000 students nationally over the next few years, Huawei said in a statement.

"The partnership between RMIT University and Huawei will help place Australia at the forefront of next-generation technology, applications and innovation," Huawei's chief technology officer, Peter Rossi said. "This is especially timely given that the ICT industry is in need of a highly-skilled workforce to make full use of the NBN."

"This partnership is the start of a national roll-out of training programs. It will go a long way in creating local jobs through knowledge transfer, based on world-leading training opportunities," he said.

The Chinese network vendor recently trialled its LTE network with Telstra in Melbourne and in May announced its intention to recruit 200 new employees to its Melbourne office.

"Huawei is already working with some of Australia's largest telecoms operators in Victoria and this announcement will serve as a foundation to further grow our Victorian presence," Huawei Australia CEO Guo Fulin said.

NBN Co also announced last week that Melbourne would be the home for its operations centre.

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