16 December 2016, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today announced that together with its partner STC, the largest telecommunication operator in the Middle East and North Africa, it has completed microwave 1000-hop link provisioning. This has enabled STC to deliver an improved service experience to enterprise customers and achieve the fastest revenue growth in the Saudi Arabian government and enterprise microwave market.

ZTE provides STC with an all-outdoor radio solution, NR8950, which provides high capacity ethernet transmission for 3G/long term evolution (LTE) and even Pre5G with no requirement for indoor space. It dramatically cuts the cost of room rental for rooms in cities and other locations where rent rates might be high, and it also shortens the installation period and saves on engineering costs.

ZTE and STC use a revenue sharing business model, which effectively reduces financial risks on STC during certain time periods. ZTE attaches great importance to project execution quality and service levels. Its delivery speed has beaten other suppliers in the past seven months and its operation and maintenance (O&M) key performance indicators (KPIs) ranks remain industry leading.

Eng. Nasser Sulaiman AL Nasser, CTO of STC group, said: "STC management is very grateful to ZTE for its outstanding performance in this project. We hope that we can hold a celebration ceremony for microwave 2000-hop link provisioning or even 10,000-hop link provisioning in the near future. We will make efforts to explore more win-win opportunities and continue to foster our cooperation."

Hu Xing, CEO of ZTE Saudi Arabia representative office, said: "We are very proud to witness STC’s microwave 1000-hop link provisioning. We have also created a new revenue sharing business model for this application. ZTE will continue to operate in an efficient, reliable and flexible manner to bring more benefits for STC."

As the world's leading microwave equipment supplier, ZTE has sold its microwave products to more than 90 countries and regions, provided more than 200 telecommunication operators with high-quality transmission services and sent shipments totalling more than 90,000 hops by the third quarter of 2016. So far, ZTE has provided services for China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, Vodafone, France Telecom, Telecom Finland, Telefonica, MTN, Etisalat, STC, Telstra and many other operators.