ZTE wins 3G deal with KPN

ZTE said it won a deal with European operator KPN to provide 3G network equipment in Belgium and Germany. The deal is significant for the company, which is seeking to mirror the success that fellow Chinese vendor Huawei has had in expanding its reach to Western markets.

ZTE will provide HSPA equipment to both KPN and the E-Plus Group, which is owned by KPN. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. However, language in the companies' press release indicated the low cost of ZTE's equipment was a factor in the operators' decision to go with the vendor over more established players.

Though ZTE has had infrastructure success in China, it has so far failed to garner much attention in Western Europe. Earlier this year, Telefonica selected ZTE equipment to test LTE, but ZTE has yet to win a major LTE contract in the region. By contrast, Huawei recently won an LTE contract from Tele2 and the Swedish unit of Norway's Telenor for their joint venture Net4Mobility in Sweden.

For more:
- see this release

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