Huawei's growth slows in 2009, sees stable 2010

SHANGHAI Jan 4 (Reuters) - China's Huawei [HWT.UL], the world's No.2 maker of telecommunications equipment, said its sales growth slowed sharply in 2009 during the global downturn, but forecast that contract sales growth would stabilise this year.

The company, which earns the bulk of its revenue from equipment sales to customers including Telenor (TEL.OL) and TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST) and Vodafone (VOD.L), posted revenue of $21.5 billion last year, up 17.5 percent from 2008, a company spokesman told Reuters on Monday.

That growth rate was down sharply from the 43 percent the company reported in 2008, amid its meteoric rise onto the global stage.

Huawei expects 2010 contract sales to rise 20 percent to $36 billion, similar to the 20 percent growth in contract sales it posted for 2009, the spokesman said.

Huawei and hometown rival ZTE (0763.HK)(000063.SZ) have become two of China's biggest success stories in the technology sector, taking on the likes of established players like Ericsson (ERICb.ST), Nokia Siemens [NOKI.UL] and Alcatel Lucent (ALUA.PA) to become two of the world's largest telecoms equipment makers. (Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Doug Young and Chris Lewis)