ZTE’s European ambitions receive another boost with the signing of an MoU to open a new R&D centre in Germany

Düsseldorf/ Shenzhen, 8. July 2011 - ZTE Corporation, a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, and Technical University Dresden have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the opening of an R&D centre. The MoU was signed by the Rector of TU Dresden, Prof. Hans Müller-Steinhagen, and Executive Vice President of ZTE Corporation, Mr Qingfeng Fan during the state visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Berlin in late June 2011. The signing ceremony was hosted by China’s Vice Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Zhang Xiaoqiang, and Germany’s Federal Minister of Economics, Dr. Philip Rösler. ZTE’s objective is to expand its testing and research activities in Europe and Germany.

The focus of the R&D centre will be on the development of key technologies for the mobile standard Long Term Evolution (LTE), especially in Time Division Duplex (TDD) technology. The location of the planned research and development centre will be close to the University of Dresden, which was chosen specifically because of the availability of highly trained engineers and excellent technical facilities. The research centre will team-up technical experts, scholars, graduate students and other necessary resources in a dedicated lab to study and develop future telecommunications solutions. ZTE has made commitments to hire graduate students from Technical University Dresden over the coming years.

“ZTE’s innovative power and rapid growth is rooted in the creativity and expertise of more than 35,000 people working in R&D centres across the globe," explains John Lee, General Manager of ZTE Deutschland GmbH. "ZTE maintains a standard practice to invest ten percent of its yearly income on R&D. ZTE’s aim is to invest more into research in the local European markets we serve. The test lab at Technical University Dresden will help us strengthen our efforts in the field of innovation and patent development.”

“This cooperation means an acknowledgement of the quality of our graduate students and at the same time sets high goals in terms of our R&D cooperations”, says Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fettweis, head of Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems at TU Dresden. “The Technical University Dresden possesses very good academic resources in the field of mobile communication. We are happy to meet new challenges for 4G and LTE technologies, together with our new partner ZTE, a leading player in the global telecoms industry.”

Since entering the TDD-LTE field in 2005, ZTE has achieved sustainable development on TDD-LTE wireless systems, chipsets and terminals. So far it has established eight TDD-LTE R&D centres in America, Europe and the Chinese cities of Shenzhen, Shanghai, Xi'an and Nanjing. The company has 4,000 researchers involved in the R&D and global promotion of LTE products. As an innovator of LTE technologies, ZTE has actively joined hands with leading global carriers, having rolled out 18 LTE commercial networks and 70 LTE trials throughout the world. ZTE already owns 235 basic LTE patents, accounting for seven percent, to become one of the main holders of basic LTE patents in the world.