The people of Santiago, the capital city of Chile, are to become the first in the country to have access to a state-of-the-art GSM WLL system - being provided by ZTE of China in a contract with leading local IDD (International Distance Dialing) operator Transam.

The system, based on GSM technology, using fixed wireless terminal to realize WLL technology is a mixed solution between mobile and fixed network. It will bring advanced communications technology to the 200,000 inhabitants of Santiago. This is the latest success for ZTE in South America during 2004 and follows the winning of a big contract with Brazilian CDMA operator VIVO and providing handsets for Telefonica in Peru.

"South America is an important and fast-growing market for ZTE and we are committed to providing competitive, customized solutions to operators right across this continent, " said Mr Liu Jian Jun, general manager of ZTE Chile.

"We faced tough international competition in winning this prestigious project and we now look forward to bringing our world leading WLL technology to the streets - and the people - of Santiago".

ZTE has a strong local presence across the South America, with offices in Chile, Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Argentina and a manufacturing and customer service centre in Brazil.

"Being able to support our customers locally with world-class people and service is vital to ZTE´s success," said Mr Liu.  "With our local offices and increasing regional knowledge, we are now able to provide operators with long-term support and commitment they expect and deserve."

ZTE´s WLL capability is one of the fruits of its continual high investment in research and development. It has also built 11 R&D centres around the world to enable it to keep in forefront of the latest telecommunications technologies. Its staff also have a wealth of expertise; more than 65% of the personnel hold a degree and over 400 hold doctorates.

ZTE´s GSM WLL solution is developed based on its GSM solution and has already been deployed in some counties in Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa. To the PSTN operator who doesn´t have a mobile operating license but wants to increase it´s revenue by getting wireless customers, GSM WLL is a very good choice.

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For more information please contact Helen Lyman Smith or Brian Dolby on +44 (0)115 950 8399 or email helen@gbcspr.com or brian@gbcspr.com.

About ZTE: ZTE Corporation is China´s largest listed telecommunications equipment provider specializing in offering customized network solutions for telecom carriers worldwide. The company develops and manufactures telecommunications equipment for fixed, mobile, data and optical networks, intelligent networks and next generation networks as well as mobile phones.