A Q&A session with Zhang Jianpeng, SVP and Head of Global Marketing at ZTE Corp.

February 24, 2021

4 Min Read
ZTE Is Striving to Help Operators in Various Countries to Achieve Digital Technology Development in 5G SA Deployment

Q1: Let's recap 2020. How did ZTE perform during the year and how was it able to persevere during the epidemic?

Year 2020 was challenging for everyone the epidemic affected the world economy and changed people's lives. People stayed home, maintained social distancing and the world became stagnant for a while. However, this also meant people needed connection and communication more than ever.

With the combined efforts and solidarity of all staffs together with the continuous trust of our customers, ZTE achieved a good market performance in this difficult year. Hence in 2020, we achieved 11.73% year-on-year increase with the overall revenue of 101.37 billion CNY. In 2020, ZTE ranked No.2 globally for its RAN shipment according to the February 2021 report published by Dell’Oro group.

Q2: What's the impact of 5G Standalone likely to be in 2021?

As we have known, 5G SA is ready for end-to-end commercial use in terms of maturity of standards, chipsets, terminals and networks. According to the industry report, 412 operators and 131 countries/regions had invested in 5G. At present, about 56 operators are investing in 5G SA, 13 operators are deploying 5G SA network and we understand that 5G SA will continue to be a staple deployment strategy for 2021. The advantages of 5G SA and its driving effect on future digital transformation have become consensus of the industry. After introducing SA, 5G+industry applications will be vigorously developed . The operators will strive to maximize the value of 5G networks and empower all industries which will benefit not only the end consumer but will accelerate B2B industries.

Q3: How does ZTE help network operators who are looking to embrace 5G SA?

Currently,ZTE has commercialized various 5G SA networks . With that, we have in-depth understanding as well as discussion on operator's 5G SA network expectations and requirement which enables us to be one of the leaders being the end to end provider. Until now,China had opened more than 718,000 5G base stations and ZTE takes about 30% of the 5G market share.Through this large-scale 5G SA network deployment surge in China, ZTE has accumulated comprehensive experience and attained the necessary expertise to help differentiated operators all over the world to deploy the 5G SA network.

In terms of 5G deployment in vertical industries, ZTE has cooperated with 500 partners in 15 industries including but not limited to manufacturing,healthcare and ports. Therefore, we can assist operators to deploy 5G SA networks strengthening their regional advantages and characteristics whilst exploring network potential and developing their vertical application services.

Q4: What are the key advantages that ZTE has as an end-to-end network equipment provider over vendors who specialize in one technology area?

ZTE invests close to 15% of its annual revenue into R&D therefore we have gained technical advantages in the research on mobile communication network, core network, and intelligent network technologies.

With 36 years of experience in the communications industry, ZTE has a more comprehensive understanding of the requirements of the entire 5G network. These have created the advantages of ZTE's end-to-end solution which includes service-oriented end-to-end slicing capability, flexible function orchestration capability and on-demand service module deployment capability. By relying on the advantage, we can orchestrate product functions in accordance with the customer's requirements to fully meet the customer's differentiated requirements.

Besides, in the future product evolution, the products provided by end-to-end network equipment provider will have better integration and evolution performance than those provided by suppliers in the single technical field.

Q5: What has ZTE learned from deploying 5G in China?

With one of the largest population, China's 5G network is the most complex in the world. When ZTE deploys 5G in China, ZTE has to meet diversified requirements such as multi-coverage scenarios, high network performance, and the world's largest co-construction and shared network. Facing the 5G challenges in China ,ZTE maintained an industry-leading position in technical innovation capabilities, large-scale commercial use capabilities, and product delivery capabilities to satisfy the client in China.

Besides, ZTE can also fully match the requirements and product combinations according to different overseas market segments. For example, ZTE has implemented 5G+ smart park to save port cost and time in Tianjin Port China. Then ZTE had the in-depth understanding of port 5G+ requirements, ZTE was able to quickly meet the requirements of 5G+ intelligent park in Brussels, Belgium.

Q6: What lessons can global network operators take away from China's 5G market?

Like the fight against COVID-19, technology does not distinguish national boundaries.The large-scale 5G network construction, system practice, and the 5G verticals already deployed by Chinese operators have brought about great vicissitudes in the Chinese market which can also provide reference for global operators in the different industries. In addition, by developing communication network infrastructure in advance enabled SA to be deployed directly which promoted digital transformation of various industries and industrial application requirements, thus driving people , logistics and capital flow. This network economy model again can be used as a reference point for global operators.

The applications which already implemented in the Chinese market are valuable 5G practices that can be borrowed globally. ZTE is willing to help operators in various countries achieve digital technology development through accumulated application experience.

This content is sponsored by ZTE Corp.

ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763)

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