Chinese and Nigerian presidents attend historic signing ceremony in Beijing´s Great Hall of the People
                                                            
A rural network to complete wireless coverage throughout Nigeria, a handset manufacturing facility and an exhibition and training centre are to be provided by ZTE Corporation (Shenzhen: 000063, Hong Kong: 0763), China´s largest listed telecommunications manufacturer and leading wireless solutions provider, in a contract with Nigeria´s Communications Ministry.

The agreement was witnessed by the Presidents of China and Nigeria - Mr Hu Jintao and Mr Olusegun Obasanjo - and took place in the People´s Great Hall of Beijing, the first time a memorandum for a network construction project has been signed in this important location.

The contract, worth US$95 million, will see ZTE build on an earlier project to bring a rural network to 110 local government regions in Nigeria. The second phase of the project will extend the network to the remaining 225 local government regions.

"In the first phase of our work in Nigeria, ZTE demonstrated excellent technical support and a well-established after-sales service. The strength of our achievements has led to this historic agreement," said Mr Ye Weimin, Vice President of ZTE.  "This rural network will make a significant contribution to the economic development of Nigeria and we are very proud to be involved.

"As a hi-tech enterprise in the telecom industry coming from the developing countries, ZTE fully understands what African countries like Nigeria needs from us.  ZTE will continue to strengthen its cooperation with the leading operators and governments in Africa and will help them to promote the advancement of the African telecommunications industry with our comprehensive wireless, mobile, fixed network and handset solutions," added Mr Ye Weimin.

ZTE will also establish a handset manufacturing facility and an exhibition and training centre in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, to train local telecommunications employees as part of the agreement.

ZTE was one of the first telecommunications equipment manufacturers to work in Nigeria and has since developed close partnerships with leading local operators.  In 2003, ZTE won a contract to provide the first GSM network and, in 2004, ZTE began the first phase of the rural network that is now being extended. 

Africa is an important market for ZTE: the Corporation´s products have already been deployed in more than 14 countries including Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia, Kenya, Zambia, Algeria, and Ethiopia.  Earlier this year, ZTE successfully launched an intelligent network for Zambia´s national operator Zamtel; in September 2004, ZTE beat all other competitor vendors to make the first ever 3G call in Tunisia; ZTE´s GSM products have been used in large-scale applications in Nigeria and Ethiopia; and, also in 2004, ZTE was selected by Egypt Telecom to construct a large-scale CDMA network covering the Nile River Delta.