ZTE has been named as the vendor for the TD-LTE networks that China Mobile is rolling out in five cities – Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Shenzhen and Tianjin. According to the vendor, this announcement makes it the leading provider of LTE equipment to the world’s largest mobile operator.
Eventually, China Mobile aims to extend the trial across an additional eight cities – Chengdu, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shanghai and Xiamen. ZTE has faced down competition from Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks to procure the contract, although it is currently unclear whether any other vendors will be involved in China Mobile’s TD-LTE deployments.
The contract will certainly be welcomed by ZTE’s top executives, who have apologised and taken a pay cut after the firm projected a loss for the first three quarters of 2012. The vendor’s financial difficulties were chalked up to delayed projects abroad, an unsettled domestic market and lower margin contracts.
