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Chinese telecom equipment vendor ZTE Corp is in discussions with Bharti Airtel to deploy 4G equipment in Mumbai and Delhi telecom circles, where the Indian GSM operator holds spectrum.
“We are engaged in discussions to deploy 4G in metro cities using long-term evolution (LTE) technology, but a final decision is yet to be taken. We don't have any time-frame to give…,” said ZTE Senior Vice-President Renjun Zhang, declining to provide financial and other details.
The deal, according to sources, would involve setting up about 6,000 towers and providing other network equipment for these two circles. The two circles are the most lucrative in the country.
The Shenzhen-headquartered company had earlier won contracts to supply 4G network and gear to Bharti Airtel's operations in Kolkata, Punjab and Haryana. ZTE had installed more than 1,800 base transceiver stations (BTS) across these circles, while in December 2013, it had also won a contract to deploy 4G infrastructure for Aircel in two circles.
The company, which is China's largest 4G vendor, is also deploying LTE network for China Telecom and China Mobile.
OPEN MARKET
ZTE is increasingly looking to sell handsets directly to users, minimising its exposure to bundling (operators selling mobile phones along with services). With operators not keen on bundling, its bundling business in India has shrunk by nearly 50 per cent, Zhang said.
“Bundling business is not lucrative, and many operators are saying that they don't have enough money to subsidise handsets,” said Zhang, adding the company hopes to grow device market in India by about 30 per cent.
ZTE, which sold about 40 million handsets in calendar 2013, expects to ship about 60 million handsets in 2014.
It also aims to garner about 10 per cent share of the global smartphone market in the next three years. This would be on back of its new handset launches - Grand and Nubia - and wearable technology products.
ZTE will launch its 'Grand Watch' and its Grand S2 smartphone by the end of this quarter, taking on handset majors such as Samsung and Sony.
“There is a huge potential in wearable technology and we are looking to tap this with our smart watches,” said ZTE's head of handset strategy Lv Qian Hao.
The firm, which now has less than five per cent share in the smartphone market, expects to more than double it to 10 per cent by the end of 2016.
It is also setting up 1,000 branded stores in China and other countries such as India and Indonesia. Later, ZTE will focus on Western Europe, Japan, India, Russia and Indonesia, he added.
GERMAN CONTRACT WIN
ZTE has won a one-billion euro (about $1.33 billion) managed services contract from Netherlands-based Royal KPN N.V. Under the five-year contract, ZTE will deploy 2G, 3G and 4G services for KPN's operations in Germany, sources close to the development told Business Line .
The Chinese company has bagged the contract through its wholly-owned subsidiary ZTE Gmbh. The company had won the deal after KPN's existing deal with Alcatel-Lucent expired. ZTE officials declined to comment.
The sources also did not divulge the number of its employees who would be servicing KPN's opertions. The German operator provides WCDMA and LTE (4G) services across Germany.
ZTE, which has revenues of about 84.2 billion RMB (financial year 2012), provides products and services to more than 500 operators in over 160 countries.
(The reporter is in Hong Kong to attend 'ZTE Spring Luncheon 2014'.)
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