Turkcell subsidiary “life:)” to deliver HSPA+ data services over new SDR network

27 July 2009, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has signed a contract to build a commercial UMTS network in Belarus for the Byelorussian Telecommunication Network (BeST) subsidiary of Turkcell, the third largest European mobile operator. The UMTS network will serve mobile service operator life:), the trading name for BeST.　

The UMTS network will provide fast network access to life:) subscribers and enhance user 3G services experience. In addition to voice communication, life:) provides its subscribers with SMS and MMS services, GPRS and EDGE data transfer services. The life:) network will use ZTE’s industry-leading SDR solution to deliver high speed HSPA data services and enable an easy evolution to LTE.

“The UMTS network that we are working with ZTE to construct will enable life:) to continue its rapid expansion in the Belarus mobile market by helping us deliver high quality, high-speed data services to our subscribers,” said Mr. Ozcan Ermis, life:) CEO.

"This contract with Turkcell, a major European cross-border operator, is an important step forward in ZTE's UMTS product utilization and exposure in Europe," said Mr Zhu Jinyun, senior vice president of ZTE Corporation. “It follows many other recent UMTS contract wins that ZTE has already executed on to the high satisfaction of our customers.”

ZTE is committed to the development of UMTS and LTE. The company has been playing an active role in supporting the industry by providing UMTS solutions to worldwide markets including Hong Kong, Romania, Estonia and Turkey. Since late 2008, ZTE has partnered with some of the world’s leading telecom operators to establish UMTS networks, including Hong Kong mobile operator CSL Limited, China’s Unicom, Turkey’s third largest operator AVEA, and Vietnam’s largest operator Viettel. In terms of population, these countries are in the world’s top 20, and all have robust telecom business growth potential. ZTE’s CSL partnership is set to build the world’s first SDR-based HSPA+ all-IP commercial network by deploying more than 2,000 base stations in just 11 months.

To date, ZTE’s GSM equipment has been deployed by over 90 operators in more than 70 countries worldwide, serving around 310 million subscribers around the world.

BeST is owned 80 percent by Turkcell and 20 percent by the Republic of Belarus. Turkcell is Turkey's leading communication and technology company and has operations in 8 different countries (Turkey, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Cyprus and Kazakhstan), reaching over 60 million subscribers.