ZTE sees LTE business doubling or better in 2011

BEIJING, CHINA: ZTE Corp, China's No.2 telecoms equipment maker, said on Wednesday it aims to at least double its commercial fourth-generation (4G) wireless business next year, as carriers upgrade networks for faster data services and Web surfing.

ZTE currently had contracts for 50 long-term evolution (LTE), the common name for 4G, networks globally, with seven of those to build commercial networks and the rest for trial ones, said Li Jian, head of the company's LTE division.

"This year has been better than our expectations at the end of 2009," she told Reuters in an interview.

"We think it will accelerate. Many companies are making plans," she said, adding that the company's 4G commercial network business should definitely grow by double or more next year.

China's dominant mobile carrier, China Mobile is also doing initial trial work for its own 4G variant, called TD-LTE. But the country's other two carriers, China Telecom and China Unicom, have been largely silent on the subject to date.

Li said she expected China Telecom and Unicom to start LTE trials next year, as they prepare for Beijing to issue 4G licences.