Company Solidifies GSM Product Growth Over the Last Two Years

3 February 2009, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, is aiming to get a place among the top 3 global GSM shipment vendors this year. This vision is in line with its strong performance last year where the company’s GSM product shipment increased by almost 100% year-on-year, representing 15% of the newly added global market in 2008.

ZTE is among the few telecom equipment and network solution vendors in the industry today with base stations that support GSM/UMTS dual-mode operations, and capable of evolving to support future 4G by simply adding baseband board and upgrading its software. Today, the company also offers SDR (Software Define Radio)-based base station series that helps telecom operators prepare for future wireless communication evolution. This cost-effective solution provides them with an ideal alternative to build convergent and integrated networks. With this innovative GSM solution, it only proves that a Chinese company, such as ZTE, can lead the global market in providing international carriers with the right telecom equipment to enhance their communications infrastructure.

“With the significant achievements we gained last year combined with the state-of-the-art products we offer the international landscape, we are confident that we will continue to consolidate our leadership in the GSM market, and ultimately help us realize our goal of becoming among the top 3 global GSM equipment vendor this year,” said Mr. He Zhaogang, general manager of ZTE’s GSM products. “ZTE is determined and committed to continuously providing global telecom operators with advanced and reliable GSM solutions that maximize their ROIs and help them smoothly migrate to next-generation wireless communications era.”

ZTE’s SDR technology-based integrated base station series has unique and advanced multi-system and unified platform features that allow operators to easily convert two networks into a single unified network. In the past, operators had to build separate networks before constructing a new 2G/3G unified mobile network. With ZTE’s SDR base station’s capability to re-configure networks, operators can smoothly evolve to future HSPA+/LTE networks, hence allowing them to effectively manage operational and network upgrade challenges. SDR is a major technology revolution that allows global carriers achieve flexible and efficient network deployment, and is now commercially deployed in the Asia Pacific Region. 

Last year, ZTE developed a wide range of GSM/UMTS solutions with the lowest TCO that significantly improved the company’s competitiveness and position in the industry. It continued to solidify its global position in the GSM market, becoming among the top 4 GSM equipment vendors in 2007, and by last year, sustained the growth to narrow the gap over its key competitors. This year, ZTE is consolidating the growth to realize its aim of becoming among the top 3 GSM vendors with the highest shipment volume in the world.

ZTE’s GSM equipment has been deployed by over 60 operators in more than 50 countries worldwide, resulting in the creation of mobile capacity exceeding 200 million lines.  From 2003 to 2007, ZTE’s global GSM market share had increased more than 100%.

The company has already applied for over 3,000 GSM patents and is a pioneering member of many international standards organizations such as ETSI, 3GPP and GSA. ZTE ranks among the leading GSM equipment providers in the world, partnering with industry-leading operators including China Mobile, China Unicom, Reliance, Etisalat, Telenor, and Hutchison.