BEIJING: Chinese vendor claims leading position in 4G equipment sales; reports solid growth in its consumer device and smart cities businesses. ZTE increased its net profit by 150 million yuan (€19.9 million/$22.4 million) year-on-year in the opening six months of 2016, on the back of steady gains in sales of mobile infrastructure, consumer devices, and smart city rollouts.
The Chinese infrastructure vendor generated a profit of 1.77 billion yuan in the first half of 2016 compared to 1.62 billion yuan in the same period of 2015, and increased revenues by 4.05% to 47.76 billion yuan. ZTE said the bulk of its revenue (58%) came from its domestic market, with the remainder from international sales.
ZTE said sales growth was fuelled by a steady expansion of its market share in the carrier network market during the first half. In a statement, the company claimed to have maintained its position as the number one 4G equipment vendor in terms of global shipments for the third year in a row, and to have increased its market share in wireless and wired infrastructure sectors. The carrier infrastructure market remained ZTE’s largest sales generator during the period, accounting for 28.74 billion yuan of its total revenue.
ZTE’s consumer business generated 14.42 billion yuan in revenue during the first half of the year. The vendor said premium smartphones including its Axon and Blade models helped to propel it into the list of top six vendors globally during the second quarter, with strong shares in Russia, Sweden, Spain, South Africa, Mexico, Australia, and North America.
The vendor’s government and enterprise business generated 4.61 billion yuan of its total revenue during the first half of 2016. ZTE said smart city infrastructure was a key driver of the growth within the division, noting that orders increased by 40% year-on-year during the period. The company added that its smart city solutions had been deployed in 145 cities by the end of June, and that it made breakthroughs in Europe in the fields of smart street lighting and metering.
