ZTE in the hunt for overseas revenue

ZTE is aiming to replicate the success of its main local competitor Huawei in building overseas sales for its telecoms products and increasing its relevance outside the Chinese market. The company will soon launch a major international marketing push for its wireless products, hoping to increase its offshore sales by as much as 70 per cent.

Announcing this week a significant investment in the upcoming 3GSM trade show in Cannes, ZTE said that it had identified wireless solutions, and W-CDMA in particular, as key to its future. The company says that it will continue to spend around 10 per cent of its revenues on R&D for new products, adding that it hoped to significantly increase that base through overseas sales.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post, a ZTE spokesperson said, "the key revenue growth driver will be our wireless solutions. Both GSM and CDMA network equipment sales are expected to be growing strongly to developing countries in Asia-Pacific, Africa and Middle East."

According to the report, ZTE is targeting a 70 per cent increase in overseas sales to US$1 billion. ZTE s sales to overseas markets last year were around $610 million, with total sales growing at 50 per cent to $3.46 billion.

The release of ZTE s new targets come as the company announced a new push to promote its products to the world market, beginning with a presence at 3GSM next month. ZTE SVP Xie Daxiong said in a statement, "3GSM has come at an exciting time for ZTE and for the market. We are looking forward to showing visitors what we are developing and what is already available to them now from ZTE - in Europe and anywhere around the world."

Such vigour for expansion also follows hot on the heels of new record sales growth from ZTE s main competitor Huawei, which has seen overseas sales increase by some 90 per cent over the course of 2003. Huawei s global sales were $3.83 billion last year, $1.05 billion of which were generated from offshore deals.