ZTE sales up 35%
impressive 35 percent rise in sales and 29 percent jump in net profit for first-quarter 2009 compared to a year ago. The firm recorded revenues of CNY11.67 billion (US$1.7 billion) and net profit of CNY78.66 million (US$11.5 million). Like Chinese rival Huawei, which posted similarly impressive results earlier this week,
ZTE's performance in the quarter suggests the vendor is coping well in the economic downturn and performing better than most of its western competitors. The firm reported strong year-on-year revenue growth across all its business areas, including a 46.9 percent growth in system devices, a 22.2 percent rise in mobile handsets, and a 3.6 percent rise in telecom software systems, services and other products.
In its earnings statement, ZTE highlighted its successes in China, where the firm said it had won a number of tenders for 3G network projects and terminal products from the country's three main mobile operators. It said it has achieved "a leading position" in WCDMA network projects (via China Unicom) via successful deployments in more than half of the developed municipalities in China, and had also achieved a "solid presence" in the TD-SCDMA- and CDMA-based 3G tenders from China Mobile and China Telecom, respectively. Elsewhere, in a bid to target developed international markets, the firm revealed it is setting up an independent business unit targeting high-end telecom markets in Europe and the US. It cited recent partnerships with Deutsche Telekom and BT as evidence of this new strategy.
