He admitted that the competition in China's communications industry is vehement. "We have been lucky that we have great competitors in China," he said. "We compete, but we also work together."

At Davos, state leaders and company CEOs are reassessing business models. "The financial crisis has made people think again about what their business model is," said Verwaayen. "We need a model where you have a kind of cohesion with society at large."

He said the communications industry, like any other industry, has been affected by people's increasing caution in investment. "Maybe that is a good thing," he said, "because people want to understand what type of risk they are now taking on and try to find a good business model."

At the same time, he said people have understood much better that things are linked after the crisis. "You can't keep one problem in one box and look at another box and say that there is no reflection."

"In a connected world, it is very important that we agree to some basic principles and that we can get things done," he added. He was disappointed by what happened at the Copenhagen climate change conference last December. "We need to think about how we are going to make positions going forward in a much better way and in a much more structured way."

Big companies should come together to boost the development of low carbon economy. All industries, all countries and all individuals should be included to deal with climate change. "People are now getting out of a stage of reflection and thinking and opinions and are now going into the 'do' area and that is where we need to see results."