5 December 2016, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today announced that the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has won Video Platform Innovation of the Year in the Telecom Asia Readers’ Choice & Innovation Awards for its SmartTV Platform, which was jointly developed with ZTE. The award reflects industry recognition of ZTE’s leading position and technical advantages in the big video field and the Smart TV Platform is another example of successful deployment for customers to refer to in the big video blue-ocean market.

ZTE signed the internet protocol television/over the top content (IPTV/OTT) contract with PTCL in August 2014, which specified that ZTE would construct the new IPTV and OTT big video platform and jointly develop the OTT software SmartTV app with PTCL. Within six months, following great focus of effort and with the help of PTCL's marketing team, ZTE completed delivery of the OTT platform equipment, concluded debugging, released SmartTV V1.0 including the Android version, iOS version and Windows browser version, and realised its interconnection with customer management and billing systems. The PTCL SmartTV service was launched by February 15, 2015 in time to provide live coverage of the 2015 Cricket World Cup and, as the only app supporting live World Cup streaming without any advertising, attracted high customer numbers.

PTCL’s team, led by Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) Mr Adnan Shahid, worked in close communication with ZTE’s technical team over product improvements and, during MWC 2016 in Barcelona, both sides made announcements about the establishment of a Big Video Joint Innovation Centre to work on PTCL’s SmartTV service, establish a thorough and healthy ecosystem and facilitate the commercial use of new value-added services.

In addition to technical innovation that has changed Pakistan users’ viewing habits, SmartTV also serves as an important portal for the world to learn about Pakistan’s culture including customs, religions, traditions and sports. Its role as a new and effective cultural dissemination channel for Pakistan was a key factor in the SmartTV platform winning the award.

PTCL is the largest state-owned operator, and the largest fixed network operator, in Pakistan. With a population of 190 million and the development of fixed network bandwidth, the 3G/4G network and mobile Internet, the market demand for IPTV and OTT services is huge and the IPTV and OTT service has developed rapidly.

ZTE, as a global telecoms equipment and network solution provider, providing more than 500 operators in 160 countries and regions with market leading products and service solutions. It is also a leading IPTV/OTT equipment and end-t-end (E2E) IPTV + OTT big video solution provider. As of the end of 2015, ZTE maintained its leading role in terms of its IPTV/OTT global market share, having 80 IPTV/OTT commercial deployments with a total system capacity of 50 million and more than 80 integrated content delivery network (CDN) offices across the globe.