In January 2009, the building of WCDMA started all over China . China Unicom is building its 3G network as quickly as possible and numbers in this network will be released in the first 56 main cities on May 17. ZTE is fully supporting the rapid network building of China Unicom to ensure that Unicom will face the competition in 3G market with top quality networks.

On March 30, 2009, CSL, the biggest carrier in Hong Kong , with ZTE together, held a grand opening ceremony for its new 3G network Next G TM and the fastest commercial 3G network in the world, which was exclusively built by ZTE, to formally announce to open. CEO of CSL claimed that Next G TM “can provide better mobile broadband services for Hong Kong citizens” and settled its leading position in Hong Kong mobile market.

A reporter of our magazine recently interviewed Zhang Jianguo, WCDMA Product General Manager of ZTE. Mr. Zhang described to us how ZTE raced against time and realized quick deployment in the project of China Unicom, how ZTE won the favor of CSL with its unique customized proposal, and the global development goal of ZTE's WCDMA products.

R: In 2009, ZTE obtained outstanding achievements in WCDMA market constantly. It firstly obtained 21.5% of Unicom market in Jan. and then in March, assisted Hong Kong CSL launching the fastest network in the world. What do you think is the key factor for ZTE to have won such achievements?

Zhang: Innovation ability is the first key factor for the successful delivery of networks of Hong Kong CSL and the success in Unicom market. The reason for Hong Kong CSL to choose ZTE was that the solution we provided could fully satisfy its demands, including the integration and performance enhancement of the previous networks and at the same time providing smooth evolution toward the following HSPA+ and even LTE. On the press conference of CSL, its CEO and the CEO of its parent company ---- Telstra also emphasized time and time again that the previous networks were lacking in competitiveness, but the newly-built network, which was a real mobile broadband network, could achieve a peak cell site throughput of 14.4 M , and also could evolve smoothly to HSPA+ to realize a throughput of 21.6 M . In addition, in the testing before Unicom invited a bid, our innovative SDR solution was also verified. Among various performance testings, including power consumption testing, base station performance testing, and transmission efficiency testing, ZTE all ranked the first. Especially in power consumption testing, the power consumption of some manufacturers' products was 1.6 times higher that that of us, which fully proved the overall leadership of our solution. Besides, the BBU+RRU distributed networking solution advocated by ZTE has been carried out on a large scale in Hong Kong and China Unicom. BBU+RRU distributed networking solution was proposed by ZTE in 2004, which could effectively reduce the high frequency loss of WCDMA under 2.1G band, and also the reliance on resources of facility rooms. For example, to complete the indoor & outdoor joint coverage, many sites were needed to conduct the construction of indoor and outdoor coverage respectively, but now, with one RRU+ or several RRUs, only one site is enough. ZTE has a profound understanding of customer requirements, carries out solution customization with innovation, and pays close attention to the TCO and long-term value of customers. All of these, I think are the most crucial factor for our success.

Second, in the market competition, we can grasp customer requirements and work out flexible commercial strategy.

Third, wireless products of ZTE, as a whole, have stepped into a benign development track. In Chinese market, the share of both TD and CDMA ranks the first, and the global stationing of GSM and CDMA is also increasing dramatically. All these impress customers with the solid accumulation of ZTE's strength in wireless product area. WCDMA is superimposed on 2G , and has many interfaces to interconnect with it. Therefore the 2G / 3G interoperation is required. The distribution of GSM in global market, the devotion, relocation and integration in Unicom market have laid a good foundation for WCDMA.

R: Please analyze the current situation of 3G market and ZTE's position in it.

Zhang: With the integration of device suppliers, the global pattern of WCDMA has changed tremendously over the years. There used to be about 10 suppliers, but now there are only 5 main suppliers, which are Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, ZTE and Huawei. All of them have shown an upward development tendency. Ericsson's market share still ranks the first, but with the increase of other suppliers' strength, its growth speed is becoming slow; After buying Nortel, Alcatel-Lucent has not shown any distinguished performance due to some possible problems in internal mechanism; with regard to Nokia Siemens, due to its product competitiveness and loss during the integration, its market has been removed a lot. Before the projects with Hong Kong and Unicom, the position of ZTE in WCDMA market has been at a rising stage, but the speed was not fast enough. Before 2009, there were about 0.6 million base stations all over the world, and this time, Unicom is going to build over 0.1 million base stations. Therefore, the amount of the base stations increases by about 20%. The storage of ZTE was low but now through the construction for Unicom, our market share increases rapidly by 3%. For our future development, we have a great vision of realizing “Jumping at Three Steps”: in 2009, we can realize quantity sale and the product competitiveness strives to reach Top 3 in the industry; in 2011, the newly increased market share can reach Top 3 in the industry; in 2013, the storage share of WCDMA can reach Top 3 in the industry. This goal should be quite challenging, but we have built a good pattern in 2009, and we have full confidence of the development of WCDMA.

R: How was the implementation of Unicom's project with ZTE?

Zhang: In the delivery of the overall Unicom WCDMA network, we have kept our promise to our customer and even exceeded its expectation, with which we felt very pleased. In the project of Unicom, we acquired the building of over 20 thousand base stations in 86 cities, and till April 10, all the devices regulated in the contract have been delivered. This was really a tough task. On Jan. 25, we were formally informed of the details of building networks; during the Spring Festival, many colleagues gave up the holiday and rushed to each city. From signing the contract to finishing the delivery, it took us only about 2 months. We finished the delivery of about 23 thousand base stations and the conditions on arrival were the best among all the suppliers. In the first 56 main cities of Unicom, we were responsible for 12, including Shenzhen. We finished the delivery of the 12 main cities at the beginning of March and for the rest 238 cities, Unicom required us to finish the delivery at the end of April, while we finished it on April 10, which was far beyond our customer's expectation. All of these reflected our strength in logistics, delivery and project construction. There are nearly 2600 base stations in Shenzhen, which is the biggest local network built by single supplier. We were informed of obtaining the project of building the network in Shenzhen on Jan. 25, and on Jan. 31, the first delivery arrived in the customer's warehouse. On Feb. 5, the first 3G video phone of Unicom was put through in Shenzhen, and on Feb. 23, the first trans-provincial 3G video phone (from Xi'an to Shenzhen) in China was put through again. It took us one and a half months to finish the installment and opening of all the devices in Shenzhen, and now we are optimizing the network. Till the end of April, our installment rate in 56 main cities has reached 97% and our opening rate 95%. This speed can absolutely support Unicom's goal of releasing numbers on May 17. For indexes such as installment rate, opening rate and optimization rate, ZTE performed the best and had been praised for several times on the Unicom communication meetings with suppliers and regular meetings, of which we also felt very proud.

R: How will ZTE cooperate with Unicom in network building in the latter stage?

Zhang: Unicom will release numbers in two steps: the first numbers will be released in 56 main cities on May 17, among which, we are responsible for 12 cities; And among the second 238 cities, we will be responsible for 71. In all the suppliers, we occupy the biggest share of local network, which also brings us challenges. For the delivery during the latter part of the project, we will firstly make sure the high-quality delivery and stable operation of the networks built by ZTE; secondly, we will copy the experience of network planning and optimization in the Hong Kong project into inland China, to improve the customer's efficiency as well as ours; thirdly, we will develop network planning and optimization tools that can satisfy the on-site optimization demands of Unicom and ZTE and realize intelligent control of networks; fourthly, we will respond to the demands of Unicom as quickly as possible and adjust the wireless network support to satisfy Unicom's demands for business operation so that it can realize the value of its 3G network as soon as possible; fifthly, we will assist Unicom in keeping increasing the operation efficiency of its network.

R: CSL held a grand ceremony for its new commercial 3G network in Hong Kong in May, which reflected its satisfaction for it, and also the huge success of ZTE in this project from another aspect. So why did CSL choose ZTE to become its strategic partner? What experience did ZTE acquire through this project?

Zhang: Well, ZTE used the technology of HSPA+ to build this new 3G network for CSL, which could provide a download speed as fast as 21Mbps. This is not only the fastest but also the most advanced network in the world, to which, some leading technologies, such as SDR, HSPA+ and so on were applied. There were four reasons for CSL to choose ZTE to become its strategic partner:

Firstly, we were the most appropriate. The solution ZTE provided could integrate its previous networks effectively and optimize its network structure. The biggest problem of CSL's previous networks was “many but unsystematic”. CSL had 2 standards (GSM/WCDMA), 3 bands (900/ 1800 M / 2.1 G ) and 4 networks, with complicated network structure, independent operation and maintenance, and high cost. The previous supplier could not offer an integration solution with the most optimized cost, while the SDR solution provided by ZTE was quite fit for CSL to simplify its networks. The design of centralized platform could realize combined networking of various standards; high hardware sharing could be realized in basebands; supporting various bands could be realized through deploying different RRUs. Therefore, using only 1 BBU unit and 3 RRU units could complete the network building of 2 standards and 3 bands. Meanwhile, the solution could provide smooth evolution from 900 M GSM to 900 M WCDMA and realize the enhancement of network coverage and capacity. Our solution was a networking mode of BBU+RRU based on SDR base station. BBU with centralized platform was put in the previous facility room and the whole network was cut and reconnected into the room; RRU could be drawn to the top of a building and one RRU was used for 900 M band and 1800 M respectively; another RRU was used for 2.1 G band. In this way, we could realize the integration and optimization of the previous networks. In the meantime, the solution provided the smooth evolution from 900 M GSM to 900 M WCDMA, which was a strong support for the customer's developed demands. We could integrate and optimize its previous networks. This was the first reason for our customer to choose us.

Secondly, we were the most effective. The second chronic disease of CSL's previous networks was weak competitiveness in data business. They could only provide HSDPA ability at 1.9 Mbps, and could not realize forward evolution, which brought much competitive pressure to CSL. The new 3G network built by ZTE for CSL not only increased substantially the previous HSPA ability (supporting HSDPA at 14.4 Mbps and HSUPA at 5.76 Mbps), but also supported software updating and HSPA+. With the new network, we finished the deployment of HSPA+ all over Hong Kong in a short time and assisted CSL in building the fastest network in the world. Meanwhile, the new network could provide smooth evolution toward LTE.

Thirdly, we were the most considerate. CSL paid close attention to TCO. First, we reduced the consumption in hardware sources. Our devices had excellent performances and small sizes and naturally the consumption in supporting facilities such as facility rooms would be reduced. After replacing the network, the number of key facility rooms was cut from 3 to 2, that of RNC from 12 to 6, that of network pipes from 4 sets to 1 set and the whole consumption in hardware resources was greatly reduced. Second, we reduced the transmission cost. All-IP transmission solution was applied in Hong Kong, which not only was fitted for the future development of high-speed mobile data business, including HSCPA/UPA and PA+ , and even LTE, but also reduced the transmission hiring fee significantly. For example, previously, each E1 could provide the transmission of 2 M , and the hiring fee was as high as 3000 HK dollars per month. Generally speaking, at least 2 E1s were needed for each station and while providing HSPA/HSPA+ businesses, more E1s were needed. On the contrary, the price for hiring an IP transmission of 50 M might be equal to that of an E1.

Fourthly, we were the most reliable. The enhancement of ZTE's overall ability was very obvious in the industry. CSL also consented to that and was very confident of ZTE's innovation ability and response ability. Especially during the network cutting and reconnecting, CSL was reassured by the compactly-organized and well-managed ZTE and its capacity of handling emergencies rapidly. In addition, the stability of devices provided by ZTE was also demonstrated fully in the networks in Hong Kong . All the 3G users of CSL were divided into 6 groups for transference and all the transference was finished once. The networks after transference perform steadily and the KPI is improved a lot compared with that of previous networks.

We accumulated much precious experience in the project with CSL. Firstly, the adaptability of our solutions was tempered under complicated circumstances, and experience was accumulated in network coverage plan, performance enhancement and KPI assurance. Secondly, experience was accumulated in method of network optimization. Thirdly, experience was accumulated in overall project organization and research and development organization for carrying out major Turnkey projects.

R: What is ZTE's plan for the future evolution toward LTE?

Zhang: ZTE owns the most complete wireless product series, including WCDMA/GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX, and so on. Rich accumulation in technology and ability in constant innovation of ZTE guarantee the high starting point, combination character and rapid commercialization ability of LTE. For example, the WCDMA products in SDR series now have possessed the ability of evolving toward LTE smoothly. Besides, ZTE also increases input in LTE. In the second half of this year, we will open a commercial experiment bureau for LTE. We wish that in the global development of 3.9G , LTE can interact with WCDMA/GSM to establish a good pattern.

R: What is your future plan for the global development of WCDMA?

Zhang: We will not be merely content with the current share. In 2009, we will intensify the efforts to develop international market. Two types of market will be our main direction: one is high-end market in Europe and America and transnational carriers; the other is some countries with large population in Asian-Pacific Region, such as India , Thailand , Vietnam and Indonesia . We must grasp the time windows for these countries to start 3G , keep increasing our ability in these two types of market and establish our development pattern. If we can lay a good foundation in these two markets in 2009, it is believed that we can realize the development goal of “Jumping at Three Steps” in 5 years.