Marconi links up with Chinese phone giant

Marconi, the UK telecoms and IT group, will unveil details today of a lucrative partnership with China's largest phone equipment manufacturer, Huawei, enhancing its distribution capability across the world's fastest-growing telecoms markets in Asia.

Marconi, the UK telecoms and IT group, will unveil details today of a lucrative partnership with China's largest phone equipment manufacturer, Huawei, enhancing its distribution capability across the world's fastest-growing telecoms markets in Asia.

An agreement in principle has been signed between the two groups, giving Marconi a major foothold in Asia. The deal will also aid Huawei's rapid global expansion, after its contract win with Telfort, the Dutch mobile phone operator, which was announced last month.

The deal will lift some of the pressure on Marconi, which in recent months has come under fire from investors and analysts questioning the firm's ability to compete against some of its larger global rivals, such as Cisco Systems, the internet network provider.

The company has completed a remarkable comeback since its near collapse after the end of the dot.com boom. It has undertaken a major restructuring, cutting some 30,000 jobs and selling several subsidiaries.