ZTE Unveils Next Generation of Data Cards

HSPA+ Adaptor and World's First Plug-and-Play TV Data Card Being Announced at MWC

16 February 2009, Shenzhen, China - ZTE Corporation ("ZTE"), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, today announced the launch of two innovative cards as part of its high speed packet access (HSPA) product family. The MF662 is a compact HSDPA+ data card, offering consumers enhanced data speeds, and the MF645 is a USB TV data card, allowing viewers to watch digital TV from a laptop over the mobile broadband connection.

The MF662 has been specifically designed for HSPA+ networks - the evolution of the current HSPA-based 3G network technology that will allow users to have a much faster mobile broadband connection. The adaptor offers download and upload rates of up to 21.6 Mbps (up from 14.4Mbps on HSPA) and 5.76M, respectively.

ZTE's MF645 is the world's smallest TV data card, and is believed to be the world's first plug-and-play data card. This USB modem enables consumers to watch digital television on a computer or laptop over a 3G connection. As the MF645 supports a download rate of up to 7.2Mbps, it offers a user experience that is similar to traditional TV sets.

"HSPA+ is an important step in network evolution as it will lead to lower connection cost, giving consumers access to innovative and effective services. More importantly, it will help carriers test out the business case for next-generation networks, opening the doors for LTE," said Zhang Yadong, general manager of data cards, ZTE Corporation. "ZTE is reinforcing its leadership position in the HSPA market by announcing two innovative data cards that will provide consumers with a superior user experience."

The emergence of high-bandwidth services such as mobile TV, downloading of music TV and film clips, 3D interactive games with multiple players, and large volume mail services is placing significant strain on network speed and capacity. HSPA+ will address this challenge by providing high download and upload links and greater capacity. 

ZTE is the world's second largest supplier of HSPA data cards and had sold over 10 million data cards by the end of 2008. ZTE has a strong focus on research and development (R&D), investing 10% of its annual sales in R&D and employing a team of 1,000 R&D employees assigned in centres in Shanghai and Xi'an in China, and in the USA and Sweden. Furthermore, ZTE is one of the few manufacturers with the ability to provide 3G and WiMAX data cards for HSDPA, HSUPA and HSPA+ as either multimedia data cards or embedded modems. ZTE's data cards are being sold worldwide through 20 leading mobile operators.

Notes to the editor:

o        Dimensions of the MF645 TV data card are 93 x 28.8 x 12.9mm. Its download and upload rates are of (up to) 7.2M and 2M respectively.

o         Dimensions of the MF662 HSPA+ data card are 69 x 27 x 12mm. Its download and upload rates are (up to) 21.6 Mbps and 5.76M respectively.

About ZTE

ZTE is a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions. The ZTE product range is the most complete in the world - covering virtually every sector of the wireline, wireless, service and terminals markets. The company delivers innovative, custom-made products and services to over 500 operators in more than 140 countries, helping them to achieve continued revenue growth and to shape the future of the world's communications. ZTE commits around 10% of annual turnover to research and development and takes a leading role in a wide range of international bodies developing emerging telecoms standards. It is the fastest growing telecoms equipment company in the world, and is China's only listed telecoms manufacturer, with shares publicly traded on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. In the Asian Wall Street Journal's Readers' Survey 2007, ZTE was among the ‘Top 10 Most Admired Companies in China', the only company that was included in the Top 10 list representing the telecom industry. ZTE was awarded the "Most Promising Vendor of the Year" by Frost & Sullivan in its 2007 Asia Pacific ICT Awards, and was reported as the fastest growing telecom equipment and solutions provider among the major telecom vendors worldwide by IDC in 2007. ZTE was included in BusinessWeek's 2006 ranking of China's Top 20 Brands. For more information, please visit www.zte.com.cn.

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AxiCom

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