ZTE’s solutions greatly reduce dependence on diesel generators, lowering CAPEX, OPEX and greenhouse gas emissions

15 August 2014, Cape Town, South Africa – ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment, network solutions and mobile devices, has been awarded the 2013 Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Leadership in Africa, based on Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis of the green ICT power solutions market.

ZTE’s ICT power solutions offer green, uninterrupted power supply and energy-saving technologies, and are helping address many of the challenges relating to power availability and environmental pollution facing the African continent. ZTE’s green energy solutions, including battery-diesel generator (DG) hybrid power, solar power, solar-DG hybrid power, wind-solar-DG hybrid power, solar video surveillance, solar pumping, solar street lighting, home solar power, photovoltaics (PV) on-grid power plant and low voltage solar power plant solutions have been implemented in many countries  in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America.

One of the most popular solutions to combat the energy shortage in Africa has been diesel generators, which are expensive to run and maintain, are environmentally unfriendly and do not satisfy the large demand on the continent. ICT vendors are now turning to green energy solutions in response. As a result of 10 years’ experience in implementing renewable power technologies within the ICT sector, ZTE is well placed to assist with optimising power usage and saving costs across the industry.

“ZTE has become a leading green ICT solution provider for the telecoms market industry,” said Frost & Sullivan industry analyst, Naila Govan-Vassen. “The company’s solar powered solutions address a number of crucial energy needs and have been deployed worldwide.”

ZTE’s solar DG hybrid power solution for Bharti Airtel, the Indian multinational telecommunications services company, is operable in a number of countries, reduces diesel generator use by over 80 percent through the dual-use of solar power alongside existing diesel solutions, thereby optimising capital expenditure. Bharti Airtel accrued savings of 81.3 percent on fuel consumption.

ZTE’s battery-DG hybrid power solution – deployed by MTN Nigeria – lowered fuel costs by 30-50 percent and maintenance costs by 50-70 percent. This implementation reduced operation costs by around $13,000 per year and the total cost of ownership (TCO) savings over five years was $43,000.

ZTE also provided solar powered solutions to Ethio Telecom (ET), the Ethiopian integrated telecommunications solutions provider,which suffered from power supply and maintenance problems. Around 800 sites with a capacity of over six megawatts were deployed all over the country which expanded its network coverage, increasing its subscriber base from 1.2 million to 4.3 million in less than two years.

In rural and remote areas with unstable power grids, ZTE’s green power solutions have decreased the dependence on diesel generators and have been highly beneficial to locations that have no power grids. ZTE’s solar video surveillance system, solar pumping, solar street lighting and home solar power solutions have been widely utilised in more than 20 African countries.

“The real value to customers is the reductions in OPEX and CAPEX, the constant power supply that results in higher network quality and the greater competitiveness,” said Naila Govan-Vassen.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that demonstrates excellence in technology leadership within its industry by excelling at all stages of the product life cycle - incubation, adaptation, take up, and maturity.

The Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.