ZTE has picked up a 2G/3G supply contract in India worth nearly $200 million (€153 million), a month after the government lifted restrictions on imports of Chinese gear.
The vendor will supply Reliance Communications with 2G and 3G equipment in eight circles, supplying around 5,000 3G base stations and 10,000 2G sites, a Reliance executive told the Economic Times.
It is the second Indian contract awarded to ZTE in the past week, after it won a $64 million contract to supply Wimax equipment to state-owned BSNL last week.
Reliance and Tata Teleservices were the first Indian operators to be granted permission to order equipment from ZTE and Huawei last month, after the Chinese companies agreed in principle to new regulations requiring vendors to make their source code available in escrow for security authorities.
Tata Teleservices early this month hired Huawei to rollout 3G in five of the nine circles for which the operator has acquired spectrum.
India has proposed strict new equipment import rules, that put the onus of compliance on operators, but has put these on hold pending a review following complaints by European suppliers.
ZTE blamed the restrictions on India sales for a 19% decline in non-China Asian revenue.