ZTE records 60mn wireless terminal shipments

NEW DELHI, INDIA: ZTE Corporation, a provider of telecommunications equipment and networking solutions, experienced impressive growth in 2009 in its wireless terminals space.

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According to iSuppli, ZTE shipped 60 million wireless terminals including more than 40 million handsets and 20 million data cards in 2009. More than 70 percent of all ZTE shipments in 2009 were to international markets, in line with the company’s aggressive global growth strategy.

In wireless terminals, ZTE’s shipment of 60.17 million units represented a 33 percent growth over 2008.

In 2009, ZTE began to break into the three major high-end markets including Europe, North America and Japan, partnering with the top global operators in the wireless terminal area, including VDF, T-Mobile, Verizon, Telefonica, Orange, H3G, Telenor, TIM and Sprint.

The sale of products ranged from high-end and innovative, personalized products to value priced products.

For its handset business, ZTE has made great strides in Europe and North America, shipping more than 40 million units globally in 2009. ZTE has invested heavily in the research and development of smartphones over the last six years and is focused on providing customizable 3G/4G handset solutions that meet the needs of individual carriers.

The company is one of a few manufacturers whose smartphone portfolio encompasses a wide range of operating systems including Android, Windows Mobile, Linux, OMS and BMP. For instance, ZTE Bluebelt is the most popular smartphone in Portugal; the shipment of ZTE X760 reached 1.5 million units in Europe alone.

ZTE’s data card business experienced an impressive 200 percent growth in 2009, with 20 million units shipped – the fastest recorded data card business growth in the world. ZTE has deployed data cards with 240 carrier customers in 106 countries.

According to iSuppli, Chinese companies own over 80 percent market share of global data cards markets. ZTE holds a full 35 percent of the global market and 40 percent of the China market.

“Seventy percent of ZTE’s wireless terminal products shipped in 2009 were to the global markets and this helped us moving up to global No. 5 handset manufacturer,” said He Shiyou, EVP of ZTE.

“ZTE in 2010 remains committed to its goals of strong growth across all product areas through innovative, high quality and customizable product offerings for its customers, and a global business strategy with strong teams in key markets including Europe and North America to meet the unique needs of each customer,” added He.