On a recent trip to Dallas, Texas I spent time with Raymond Kim the General Manager of Sales and Stacy Rupert the Senior Marketing Manager for ZTE USA and we spoke about the company's ambitious expansion plans in the US. They recently moved to new office space, are expanding in Texas and opening new offices in Atlanta, Seattle and Kansas City in order to be closer to existing and potential customers.
As you might expect from a company providing wireless infrastructure products in emerging and other markets, business is good and the staff is increasing in size. North America is an increasingly important space for the company and in order to generate better results in the area, the company recently restructured. Before the reorganization, the US, Canada and South America were one division but now the US has been pulled out and is in a new "advanced" division with Europe. This makes sense as wireless data growth has absolutely been off the charts in the US thanks to the iPhone and other smartphones and soon netbooks.
With this move, the company has an easier time coordinating resources and can have a uniformed strategy for R&D. Kim explained that 4G presents a huge opportunity for the company and he says the ZTE's technology is as good as any other player in the space. They hope to gain a foothold in the US infrastructure and terminal markets as time goes on.
To that end I had a chance to learn about a new product the AD3700 (pictured) which has subsequently been released by Verizon Wireless. The $130 ($80 after rebate) wireless world modem allows customers to take advantage of EVDO Rev. A in the US and 3G outside the country. As BusinessWeek's Olga Kharif points out, this is the first time Verizon has offered a ZTE product.
Most of the company's technology is developed in China and they will soon have a staggering 30,000 engineers developing products. And ZTE should have little to no problems financing future growth with a staggering 41.9% jump in profits in Q2 over last year as its global marketshare doubled to 8%.
One thing is for certain, ZTE seems to be a major force in wireless networks and with a new Verizon Wireless relationship and the potential to continue expanding in China and other developing markets, they are well-positioned for the future of wireless network expansion into 4G.
To keep up on the 4G wireless market be sure to come to the 4G Wireless Evolution Conference (4GWE) Sept. 1-3 in Los Angeles, CA where you will be able to network with the most important players in the 4G market and hear from 50 of the most knowledgeable speakers in the space.
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