26 February 2017, Barcelona, Spain – ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today announced that it is releasing a full range of 5G mmWave and Sub6GHz pre-commercial base stations, and will be demonstrating the 50 Gbps peak rate of a 5G mmWave base station at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona. This release allows operators to deploy these products ahead of time and seize opportunities in the 5G era so that consumers can enjoy the 5G ultimate rate ahead of time.

At MWC, ZTE's full range of 5G mmWave and Sub6GHz pre-commercial products showcased support for 3^rd Generation Partnership Projects (3GPP) 5G new radio (NR) new air interfaces and mainstream 5G frequency bands in the industry. The range uses massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO), Beam Tracking, beamforming and other key 5G technologies, meeting the 5G pre-commercial deployment requirements in various scenarios. 5G Sub6GHz base stations are the smallest and lightest base stations with the industry's highest level of integration, and their data throughput can reach 10 Gbps. ZTE, and its strategic partner China Mobile, also carried out a joint demonstration of the 5G mmWave pre-commercial base station.

In 2016, ZTE became the world's first vendor to verify the key technologies in the 5G mmWave and Sub6GHz fields and successfully completed 5G mmWave field tests. With outstanding performance, ZTE took the lead and passed all the tests in the first phase of China's 5G test. ZTE has successfully completed 5G single-point technology and prototype verification and has now entered the 5G solution verification and product research and development (R&D) phase. The release of the full range of 5G mmWave and Sub6GHz base stations has paved the way for subsequent 5G pre-commercial tests and deployment.

As one of the key 5G technologies, Massive MIMO plays a vital role in improving frequency efficiency and air interface bandwidth. In June 2014, ZTE became the world's first vendor to put forward the innovative Pre5G concept in the 4G era and put Massive MIMO into commercial use ahead of time, meeting customers' increasing data requirements and allowing a smooth evolution into the 5G era. So far, ZTE's Pre5G Massive MIMO has been widely deployed with China Mobile, Softbank (in Japan) and in other global high-end markets.

Widely recognised by operators and the industry, Massive MIMO is already used in 5G scenarios in existing mobile networks. It can solve technology and application problems caused during the commercial operation process, and will greatly accelerate the maturity of core 5G technologies and effectively shorten the period of product verification and large-scale commercial use. ZTE has applied for hundreds of technical patents, and contributed to many valuable proposals from standards organisations in regards to this technology process based on massive data collected from actual scenarios.

Zhang Jianguo, SVP of ZTE, said: "ZTE will continue its innovation in the 5G field to meet the product and service needs of customers. ZTE will occupy a place in the world's first 5G commercial market and lay a solid foundation for the future Internet of Things (IoT)."