Tie-up includes contract to deploy 3 million subscriber broadband units

8 August 2011, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, today announced that it had entered into a strategic partnership with India’s leading integrated telecom service provider, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), with the aim of enhancing broadband services in the country.

Under the partnership, ZTE will deploy ultra high-speed ADSL2+ and next-generation VDSL2+ broadband devices across BSNL’s network in 15 circles. This deployment will expand the reach and quality of BSNL’s fixed network broadband services across the country and address the requirements of future multimedia broadband services there. ZTE has already deployed over 3 million subscriber broadband units for BSNL. Eighty percent of the networks equipped with these units utilize ADSL2+, with the remaining 20 percent using VDSL2+. Combined with this project, ZTE will command 40 to 45 percent of BSNL’s DSL market share.

BSNL owns 85 percent of the market share of fixed network subscribers in India and the installation of DSLAM units by ZTE will allow the operator to enhance availability of its broadband service and will provide multiple-services to subscribers.

“In today’s world, Internet access and broadband penetration is an integral part of a country’s growth and progress. We are extremely delighted and proud to partner with BSNL to make broadband connectivity more widely accessible to people in India,” said Cui Liangjun, CEO of ZTE India. “ZTE has been closely associated with BSNL for over a decade across multiple telecom projects, and this latest initiative further reaffirms the strength of our partnership.”

The latest project marks the third straight time that ZTE has won a DSL project from BSNL and ZTE has supplied nearly 30,000 DSLAMs to BSNL to date. In the past, ZTE has also won contracts to supply Customer-Premises Equipment and Aggregation networks to BSNL. With regard to next-generation DSL, ZTE holds the distinction of having released the world's first system-level VDSL2 vectoring prototype in 2010. With its consistent focus on the evolution of DSL technology, ZTE has become the second leading vendor of broadband equipment in the world.