zte

Base station makers revenues up 14.5 percent

Sue Marek — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:58:34 -0400

Second quarter 2008 was a good time for base station manufacturers. Research firm EJL Wireless reports second quarter revenues for base station manufacturers was $13.8 billion, up 14.5 percent from the same quarter in 2007. EJL's report includes infrastructure revenues for Alca-Lu, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia Siemens, Nortel and ZTE. However it doesn't include Huawei. Report

Report: ZTE tops 2Q base station deals

Sue Marek — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:05:36 -0400

Chinese vendors captured about 61 percent of base station contracts in second quarter 2008. According to research firm EJL Wireless Research, there were 67 total base station contracts in the second quarter, up from 47 in first quarter. ZTE topped the wins, securing 31 percent of the deals. Huawei was a close second with 30 percent of the wins.

Motorola and Nortel only captured one contract each in the quarter. Meanwhile, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent each were awarded billion-dollar deals from China Mobile.

For more:
- see this article

Related articles:
China Telecom will spend $4 billion on CDMA expansion
Chart: Telecom infrastructure vendor revenues for 2Q 2008

ZTE supplying telecom services for Beijing Olympics

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:59:35 -0400

Vendor ZTE said it is supplying a broad range of telecom products and solutions for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, which begins Aug. 8. The company is said the announcement ensures that "operations of the Games' 3G network infrastructure will remain reliable and stable throughout the global event." ZTE also said it has developed a contingency plan alongside major Chinese telecom operators to provide various support services, including TD-SCDMA network infrastructure, TD-SCDMA mobile phones, its GoTa CDMA-based trunking architecture for emergency communications, broadband access, IPTV and optical transmission services. Release

Report: Global base station market grew nearly 60% in 2007

Lynnette Luna — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:05:15 -0400

According to a new report from EJL Wireless Research, the global base station market grew by 58.5 percent in 2007. The firm said the GSM/EDGE base station market continues to exceed the company's projections, while WCDMA shipments saw 114.4 percent growth. Nokia Siemens was the top OEM globally for WCDMA, while Ericsson held its spot as the largest GSM supplier. ZTE and Alcatel-Lucent co-led the CDMA market. Article

Is China finally moving to 3G?

Sue Marek — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:30:49 -0400

China reportedly is ready to issue 3G licenses after six years of promises and delays. While announcing it plans to restructure China's telecom service providers, China's regulators also announced that three 3G licenses will be granted once the restructuring is complete.

The Chinese government has been delaying the 3G process in a bid to get its home-grown standard, TD-SCDMA, up to par with WCDMA and CDMA 1xEV-DO. To date, the country's carriers have spent a significant amount of money on TD-SCDMA trials and may possibly offer services during the 2008 Olympic Games this summer.

The impending 3G awards should be good news for the world's vendors, which have been banking on China opening up the market to 3G and bolstering their business. There should be some aggressive fighting for contracts, especially when Huawei and ZTE have been fighting for market share outside of China.

For more about China's 3G plans:
- read this Unstrung article

Related stories:
- Analyst: China's 3G still years away. See this China 3G story
- China to begin home-grown 3G technology trial. See this TD-SCDMA story
- China continues to hedge on 3G. See this 3G in China story

China to begin home-grown 3G technology trial

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

China Mobile announce plans to commence commercial trials of China's 3G technology TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) on April 1. The carrier plans to set-up the commercial trials in eight cities across the country: including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Five of the soon-to-be 3G-enabled cities are hosting events for the Olympics this summer. The carrier plans to give 20,000 users handsets worth between $300 and $400 each and a data card free of charge. The initial handsets that will be used in the trial were made by China's Lenovo, Hisense, ZTE and New Postcom as well as South Korea's Samsung and LG.

For more on the trials:
- read this article from Xinua

Motorola should keep its phones

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:59:59 -0500

Motorola should keep its phones

The Wall Street Journal reports that three weeks after Motorola put its handset division up for sale it has no takers. Nokia, Samsung and LG aren't interested, while consumer-electronics companies aren't stepping forward.

Is that a real surprise? Considering the economics of the handset business, it's difficult to imagine Motorola can offload the struggling business very easily, especially when shareholder activist Carl Icahn believes the business is worth as much as $19 billion. The economics are tough for the competitive handset market, especially as vendors battle it out in the low-end market, where margins are narrow. Handset vendors are continually under pressure to lower prices and offer broad product lines. Then there's competition from newer players such as Chinese vendors ZTE and Huawei and of course Apple's iPhone.

Any company buying Motorola's business has the unenviable position of trying to rebuild the division. Remember when Taiwanese company BenQ bought Siemens' beleaguered handset division in 2005 with devastating consequences? The buyout was supposed to be BenQ's bridge into the mobile technologies market, but the company did not post a profitable quarter in the one-year span under BenQ control and subsequently went out of business.

Motorola is better off engineering a turnaround rather than shopping itself around. Waiting too long for a buyer can further weaken the division, giving a sense that the company isn't serious about the handset business. It's difficult to believe that Motorola's brand has been totally tarnished, despite the fact that its profit and sales have been terrible in the last year. The vendor has a track record of moving through peaks and valleys, capitalizing on designs such as the StarTac in the 1990s and the Razr, but also wallowing in its missteps, such as riding the Razr train too long. It just needs to figure out how to consistently stay in front of the pack. -Lynnette

Graphic: Foreign handset makers dominate China market

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:50:33 -0400

According to a recent report from China Knowledge, foreign handset makers dominate the Chinese mobile market. Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson have a joint marketshare of more than 70 percent in the country, while leading China-based handset makers like Huawei, ZTE and others have single digit penetration levels. Take a look at the pie chart below for the full breakdown:

Foreign handset makers dominate China market

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 06:59:54 -0400

According to a recent report from China Knowledge, foreign handset makers dominate the Chinese mobile market. Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson have a joint market share of more than 70 percent in the country, while leading China-based handset makers like Huawei, ZTE and others have single digit penetration levels. Take a look at the pie chart below for the full breakdown (click to enlarge):

For more on China's handset market:
- read this report from China Knowledge

SPOTLIGHT: Chinese vendors focusing on U.S.

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 06:59:52 -0400

Chinese telecom vendors have already headed to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and done well with equipment that is almost as robust and that costs less than similar products from Cisco, Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent. The U.S., however, is no longer the no-go-zone it once was for these vendors: Both Huawei and ZTE have been building out their U.S. offices and have become more aggressive about landing big deals with carriers. Article

Sprint taps ZTE for WiMAX data cards

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 06:59:57 -0400

ZTE USA has entered into a master purchase agreement with Sprint for WiMAX PC cards in express and USB form factors. The deal is a big step toward making WiMAX service available to 100 million people next year, according to the companies.

"We chose ZTE because we found the company to be a cutting-edge innovator backed by the engineering resources of an established, leading global brand," said Sprint's 4G Mobile Broadband president Barry West.

For more on the Sprint-ZTE USA deal:
- read this press release

Trend: Chinese handset vendors take on U.S.

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:01:36 -0500

Two domestic Chinese handset vendors plan to use the upcoming CTIA show in Orlando to launch handsets in the U.S. Alcatel Mobile Phones will debut phones for the U.S. market under the management of Chinese handset maker TCL. TCL will either make the phones themselves or use Compal as the manufacturer like they have done in the past. Alcatel branded phones are sold by more 30 carriers worldwide, but not yet in the U.S. Cellatel will distribute the handsets to tier 1 operators stateside, while Quality One Wireless will service tier 2 and tier 3 carriers.

ZTE USA, a subsidiary of ZTE is also planning to make some waves at CTIA later this month as it announces its first carrier deal (with a CDMA carrier) in the U.S. The company plans to focus on CDMA2000 1x EV-DO, WiMAX and home-gateway equipment.

For more on the Chinese handset makers:
- see this article from RCR

ClearTalk taps ZTE for 3G

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:01:34 -0500

ClearTalk Wireless has selected ZTE USA, a subsidiary of ZTE, to build out its 3G network using ZTE's all-IP CDMA 2000 platform for future voice, data and multimedia services. The network will also provide a migration path toward EV-DO Rev. A, ZTE says. NTCH is a privately held carrier that serves Idaho, Tennessee, Alabama, California and Arizona under its CLEAR TALK brand.

For more on ZTE deal with ClearTalk:
- see this company press release

ZTE makes 3G device deal with Canada's Telus

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:01:37 -0400

Yesterday Huawei made inroads into the North American market through an infrastructure deal with Leap Wireless, and shortly ZTE will officially announce a deal with Telus in Canada to supply CDMA 1xEV-DO devices. These low-cost Chinese vendors are plugging away at the North American market. ZTE has been heavily pushing its CDMA handset business as well as infrastructure, primarily through its push-to-talk product, in the North American market. It has already made inroads in Europe through operators such as France Telecom and Hutchison Whampoa.

For more about ZTE's deal with Telus:
- stay tuned for the announcement tomorrow on ZTE's web site

ZTE looking for M&A opportunities

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:01:39 -0400

Amid the M&A activity in the infrastructure business, China's ZTE made known that it is open to partnerships and acquisitions to strengthen its product offerings and become a tier-one supplier. ZTE has been blazing trails across the globe, aggressively bidding for both infrastructure and handset contracts. It wants to make a big push in the U.S. CDMA infrastructure market. Nortel, which already uses ZTE's push-to-talk product on an OEM basis, might make a good fit. Analysts keep saying it's crunch time for vendors like Nortel and Motorola, which are seeing potential suitors quickly shrink. ZTE, on the other hand, is one of the reasons why vendors are merging. Chinese vendors are creating a global competitive environment, and as operators like China Mobile expand internationally, they are coming along for the ride. And ZTE expects to see orders rise once the Chinese government hands out 3G operating licenses.

To read more about ZTE's desire to partner and merge:
- check out this article from TelecomDirect News

Editor's Corner

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 20:01:40 -0400

Welcome to Day 3 of CTIA. I had an interesting conversation yesterday with Chinese vendor ZTE, which has been blazing infrastructure and handset deals throughout Europe in recent months. Now it has its sights on the U.S. market, as does another Chinese vendor, Huawei. Both vendors introduced infrastructure equipment for the CDMA market. While the U.S. CDMA market appears to be locked up by the big players such as Lucent and Nortel, ZTE believes it has an opportunity to slide in among them, especially as Sprint and Verizon upgrade to EV-DO Rev. A, the next evolution of EV-DO. Meanwhile, many Tier 2 and 3 operators have yet to upgrade their CDMA networks to high-speed capabilities. When it comes to global CDMA equipment shipments, ZTE is actually on par with Lucent and Nortel, and QUALCOMM considers the company one of is biggest customers.

ZTE has also been selling a PTT system that has already been sold to 20-plus operators worldwide, and Nortel is OEMing the solution. QUALCOMM is a proponent of the IP PTT system. Remember that QUALCOMM already offers its Q-Chat product that Sprint Nextel plans to use when it upgrades to EV-DO Rev. A. (Sprint hasn't confirmed that but a number of analysts already have.) So we could see some of ZTE's PTT elements in the Q-Chat solution.

On the handset side, ZTE has won a number of major contracts with operators such as Vodafone and Hutchison in Europe because it is willing to highly customize handsets for them in an era that sees Nokia and Motorola trying to push their own brands. ZTE will do the same in the U.S.

ZTE knows it just can't knock on operators' doors and declare themselves available. Samsung and a host of other CDMA vendors have unsuccessfully tried to crack the U.S. CDMA market. Verizon CTO Dick Lynch told me yesterday that although he welcomes more vendors to drive down prices, Verizon has to be convinced that any new vendor can come in and match the quality and longevity it gets from current suppliers.

"We're coming in with a humble approach," said Lance Cornish, senior director of wireless business development with ZTE. "We know we have to listen to customers, be focused and build long-term relationships." - Lynnette

Correction: Yesterday's report erroneously reported that Vodafone KK was sold to Softbank for $48 billion. The correct figure is $15 billion.

FT, ZTE ink R&D deal

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 19:01:36 -0500

France Telecom and ZTE signed a long-term research and development deal that will initially focus on 3G smartphones based on the Linux operating system. The companies plan to work together targeting various segments within the Asian market. The JV will be based out of France Telecom's Beijing lab. France Telecom and ZTE have a prior partnership: ZTE provides broadband data products to the European operator. Aside from the partnership, ZTE also announced the establishment of an R&D center in Europe to provide technology support to France Telecom and European enterprises. Both companies should be pleased with the deal as it allows them to further penetrate overseas markets.

For more on the ZTE, FT deal:
- read this article from AFX

Cisco, ZTE team up for NGN, 3G in Asia/Pacific

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 19:01:39 -0500

Cisco Systems and ZTE have signed a deal to jointly develop NGN, 3G and other data technologies for the Asia/Pacific region, excluding Japan. The JV's aim is to accelerate the adoption rate of the companies' technologies in the region. The venture aims to leverage ZTE's wireline and wireless communications expertise and Cisco's networking experience. The companies signed the deal nearly a month ago at a ceremony in ZTE's headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

The ZTE deal is the latest from Cisco, which has had a very productive last few weeks. After officially launching its Airespace mesh solutions for the enterprise, it acquired Scientific Atlanta and just closed its buyout of VoIP provisioner Digital Fairway. Cisco's networking seems to be segueing it into a triple play end-to-end solutions provider--SA with set-top boxes and now Digital Fairway for VoIP provisioning. As always, there's no better place than the Asia/Pacific for next generation offerings like these.

For more on the Cisco ZTE deal and other Cisco moves:
- take a look at this press release