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ZTE Gears Up in Overseas TD-LTE MarketSHENZHEN, Nov 28, 2011 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- When China Mobile Ltd. (SEHK: 0941 and NYSE: CHL) is well prepared for the construction of TD-LTE networks, telecom equipment suppliers like ZTE Corporation (SEHK: 0763 and SZSE: 000063) are eager to take actions in the TD-LTE market, which will help the company's overseas expansion and the reshuffle of the telecom equipment market. ZTE has won 50% of the shares for the construction of TD-LTE networks for Softbank Corporation, revealed vice president of the Chinese company. As one of the top three Japanese carriers and an influential international carrier, Softbank has been under the spotlight in terms of TD-LTE network construction. The TD-LTE network of Softbank started commercialization from November 1, 2011. The company plans to complete the construction of 12,000 base stations before March 2012 and cover 92% of Japan's population by the end of next year. This is the world's first large-scale TD-LTE network. In early 2011, Softbank invited Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., ZTE, Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC) and Nokia Siemens Networks for discussion, hoping that each of them could build 500 pre-commercial 4G base stations. However, feeling pressure from another Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son commanded in February 2011 that the commercialization of TD-LTE network must be complete by the yearend. The steps taken by Softbank urges China Mobile, whose board chairman Wang Jianzhou feels surprised, saying that foreign mainstream carriers have sped up TD-LTE commercialization ahead of his company. By far, more than 30 global carriers have built TD-LTE experimental networks. A top executive of ZTE unveils that the company has participated in the construction of seven TD-LTE networks around the world. At the end of March 2011, ZTE announced that agreement had been inked with Hi3G under Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL; SEHK: 0013) to build large-scale LTE FDD/TDD network in North Europe. Senior vice president of ZTE believes that the TD-LTE market has great potential and the company will make leapfrog if it grasps the opportunity. Although ZTE ranks top two in the domestic telecom equipment market, the international market is still the weak point of the company. Hence, the change of the president of ZTE is believed to indicate the company's focus on overseas business. Last year, the satisfying performance of ZTE in the international market boosted the company's overall growth. The financial report of ZTE shows that the company gained operating revenues of CNY 38.066 billion from overseas business in the year, rising 27.45% from a year earlier and accounting for 54.18% of its gross revenues. Since ZTE has rich experience in the TDD LTE market, the company has great advantage in the competition with international TDD LTE equipment suppliers. Its aim is to take the first place in the global TD-LTE market. (USD 1 = CNY 6.38) Source: www.sina.com.cn (November 28, 2011) |