OREANDA-NEWS. November 20, 2015. Huawei, one of the world’s most popular manufacturers of smartphones, announced a partnership agreement that will see Huawei become the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club’s Official Smartphone Supplier. The announcement was made today in Beijing, where Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson was visiting Huawei’s Beijing Research and Development facilities.

“Today is an exciting day for Huawei Canada and for all of our Ottawa employees,” said Sean Yang, President Huawei Canada. “Our partnership with the Ottawa Senators reflects our commitment to the City of Ottawa, and the value we place on being an important part of its business and technology community.”

“As China’s leading global brand and a company with strong ties to the Ottawa community, this partnership with Huawei represents a unique opportunity for the Senators,” said Cyril Leeder, president of the Senators. “Huawei becomes the first Chinese corporation to partner with the Senators, which we see as an important step for our organization as our brand continues to become an ideal fit for international business. In particular, our national reach and portfolio of promotional properties have allowed us to experience major growth in our business in the technology sector.”

“This partnership with one of our most important community ambassadors, the Ottawa Senators, is a further reflection of the growing importance of Huawei to the Ottawa business and technology community,” said Mayor Watson. Since opening in Kanata in 2009, the Huawei Canada Research Centre has grown to over 250 researchers and engineers. More importantly, it has become one of Huawei’s global hubs for the research and development of ground-breaking 5G technology.

The agreement will see Huawei and the Ottawa Senators work together for the next two seasons. It also coincides with the launch of the new NEXUS 6P Android phone, manufactured by Huawei, and launched this past week in Bell, TELUS and Rogers stores across Canada.

The sponsorship includes rinkboard and in-game advertising, along with the option for local sales promotions for Huawei smartphones. In addition, Huawei will be partnering with the Ottawa Senators “Technology in Schools” program to promote the importance of Science, Technology and Math as education options for post-secondary students, complementing Huawei’s “Telecom Seeds for the Future” program with engineering students at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa.

“As we build our consumer brand in Canada and around the world, working with popular sports franchises like the Ottawa Senators is an important part of our strategy,” said Mr. Yang. “It’s also an opportunity to build on what we believe is a great local success story for Ottawa’s technology sector, and we are proud to call Ottawa home.”