US research firm picks ZTE most competitive in China

Controversial Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp. announced that it has been picked by a US technology research and consulting firm as “the most competitive telecommunication vendor” in China, India, Africa, Eastern Europe and the emerging Asia-Pacific market.

The Yankee Group, said to be a research and consulting firm focused on technology and based in Boston, Massachusetts, US, has also ranked ZTE Corp., second among all other telecommunications firm around the world in terms of CDMA or code division multiple access equipment competitiveness.

“ZTE’s increasing competitiveness is credited to its large installed base in China, India and emerging Asia-Pacific, as well as its long-term commitment and investment in CDMA technology,” XJ Wang, a senior analyst of the Yankee Group was quoted as saying by ZTE on a press release it issued from its  headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

“With its current momentum in the CDMA industry, this is the best timing for ZTE to further collaborate with well-established CDMA providers in North America,” Wang was further quoted as saying.

ZTE was said to have tallied the highest score in four out of seven categories the Yankee Group used to measure the CDMA competitiveness of vendors. The seven key evaluation factors were price, technology, existing installed base, product portfolio, integration capability, government support and company culture.

ZTE said the Yankee Group’s citation affirmed the company’s global stature as a leading provider of telecom equipment and network solutions.

According to Li Jian, general manager of ZTE’s CDMA products, their responsiveness to customers’ needs in providing state-of-the-art CDMA2000 solutions at a lower TCO has made it easier for carriers worldwide to partner with ZTE for their CDMA network projects.

“In the past two years, we have delivered the highest number of base stations in the global CDMA arena,” she said.

CDMA2000 is a hybrid 2.5G / 3G technology of mobile telecommunications standards that use CDMA, a multiple access scheme for digital radio, to send voice, data, and signaling data (such as a dialed telephone number) between mobile phones and cell sites.

“We are committed to developing new products and providing the best technical support to our customers, and hence, very keen on capturing larger market share in key leading markets such as the US, Japan and Korea,” Li said.

To date, ZTE’s CDMA products have reportedly been deployed by over 120 operators in more than 70 countries globally.

The company is said to hold a dominant position in China, capturing 34 percent of the local CDMA market share.

It has reportedly delivered more than 74,000 CDMA base stations worldwide, with approximately 135 million global users.

In the Philippines, ZTE has been embroiled in a controversy over a $329-million contract it bagged for it to build a national broadband network (NBN) telecommunications infrastructure for the Philippine government bureaucracy with allegations of the contract being overpriced and tainted with big-time bribery.

President Arroyo cancelled the contract last November at the height of the political firestorm generated by a testimony at the Senate last year by acting Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri.

In his testimony, Neri said he was offered P200 million by then Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos, Sr., to approve the deal when he was director of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) which reviews big government projects.

ZTE denies that it engaged in bribery to bag the NBN project.