ZTE Touts GSM Growth

SHENZHEN, China - ZTE, a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, today announced a 100% growth in volume shipments of its GSM products in the first quarter. This twofold increase, compared to the same period last year, demonstrates ZTE's continuing momentum in the GSM market and a strong performance against the company's annual sales target.

This impressive achievement is attributed to the ongoing robustness and expansion of the international GSM market, combined with ZTE's ability to capitalise on the launch of several GSM product marketing initiatives in the Asia Pacific region, a strategy that enabled ZTE to clinch a number of multi-million deals, especially for its service equipment products.

"Registering 100% shipment growth for our GSM products in Q1 this year represents another significant achievement for ZTE and one which is in line with our aggressive campaign to get a solid foothold in the global GSM market," said Mr. He Zhaogang, General Manager of ZTE GSM products. "With our commitment to developing and introducing new technology innovation equipped with outstanding capabilities and functionality compared to other products in the market, we have maintained an excellent track record and secured our market position as one of the top players in the global GSM arena."

ZTE's GSM equipment is deployed by over 60 operators in more than 50 countries worldwide, resulting in the installation of mobile capacity exceeding 150 million lines. From 2003 to 2007, ZTE's global GSM market share had increased more than 100%.

Last year, ZTE clinched several significant deals to deploy GSM networks in key and emerging international markets. In September 2007, ZTE signed a contract with CMPak, one of Pakistan's main telecom operators, to enable expansion of its GSM network coverage. Under the contract, ZTE provided supporting infrastructure including, the construction of 1,400 base stations, the provision of value-added service products for radio networks, as well as 10 million lines of capacity for the operator's core network. In July last year, ZTE also signed a contract with Nepal Telecom to add 3.5 million lines to its existing mobile GSM capacity and support future expansion that will allow the company to add a further 5 million lines by 2010.

Currently, the company has applied for over 3,000 GSM patents and is a pioneering member of many international standards setting organisations, such as ETSI, 3GPP and GSA. ZTE ranks among the leading GSM equipment providers in the world, partnering with industry-leading operators including China Mobile, China Unicom, Reliance, Etisalat, Telenor, Hutchison, among others.