Global telecoms giant ZTE sees gold in Chinese roots

HONG KONG: China's ZTE Corp, which helped bring the telephone to millions of homes during the Deng Xiaoping era, is counting on a new generation of tech-savvy smartphone users to drive at least US$7.5bil (RM23.2bil) of 4G network projects and elevate its sagging fortunes.

Shenzhen-listed ZTE, founded in the mid-1980s, clinched its first major overseas contract in Bangladesh in the mid-1990s. Since then, it has been aggressively expanding overseas and challenging telecoms equipment manufacturers such as Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent in emerging markets from Asia to Africa.