With Huawei caught up in international intrigue as to whether or not it is part of the machinery of the Chinese Government, the company keeps doing what it does best: pressing forward with the development of new technologies.

Before we get to Dr David Soldani's appointment, here's a brief bit of background.

A remarkable company with over 60,000 employees focused on R&D alone, out of an employee base of 160,000, Huawei makes its own Kirin ARM-powered and AI neutral network-enabled CPUs, while making very advanced smartphones, as well as networking equipment for enterprises and telcos, right down to Android Wear watches and Windows-based tablets.

The company also has a very impressive and global corporate social responsibility programme called "Seeds for the Future" spanning countries from around the globe. For the last two years, I've attended the graduation ceremonies for the Australian university students selected to be part of the programme, and conducted an extensive range of video interviews with students, teachers and executives as you can see here. 

On 31 January, Huawei Australia also appointed a new chief executive, George Huang, replacing James Zhao, who had been in the position since 2014.

So, now we come to Huawei Australia's latest appointment, being Dr David Soldani, a man impressively active in the ICT industry for more than 20 years, "successfully working on research, innovation and customer services projects for 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G ICT systems and services".

Huang said Soldani was a welcome addition to the Australian team as the sector prepares for the future roll out of 5G technology.

“David is an authority on the development of wireless technologies and will be invaluable for Australian carriers, businesses and governments seeking to understand the impact of this future technology,” Huang said.

Dr Soldani "rejoined Huawei after most recently heading up Nokia, as head of 5G Technology. Before rejoining Nokia in 2016, he was for eight years at Huawei European Research Centre, Germany, serving as head of IP Transformation Research Centre, head of Network Solution R&D and, subsequently, head of Central Research Institute and vice-president Strategic Research and Innovation, in Europe; and represented Huawei in the Board of Directors of The 5G Infrastructure Association and NetWorld2020 European Technology Platform, in Europe."

We're told he has been "selected many times to receive special awards in recognition of his role, commitment, professionalism, and outstanding contribution in the ICT industry, Dr Soldani was granted a Distinguished Talent (DT) visa for his profession by the Australian Government".

He has published or presented numerous international papers, contributed to the publication of many books, and holds several international patents.

Finally, Dr Soldani received a "M.Sc. degree, Laura Vecchio Ordinamento, in Electronic Engineering with magna cum laude from Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy, in 1994; and a D.Sc. degree in Technology with distinction from Helsinki University of Technology (Aalto University), Finland, in 2006".

"In 2014 and 2016, he was appointed Visiting Professor and Industry Professor at University of Surrey, UK, and University of Technology Sydney, Australia, respectively."