Say ZTE to anyone working in the mobile industry and those 3 letter conjure up images of Chinese spies building backdoors into their infrastructure equipment so they can gain access to confidential data, that or some really low end feature phone or smartphone that has questionable build quality, and yet competes with devices from other brands based solely on the fact that their handsets are cheap. Of course those are just stereotypes and ZTE is really just another company trying to make a buck or two just like everyone else. In 2010 the company made $494 million in profits on $10.7 billion in revenue. Compared to 2009, profits are up 32.3%. Sales from territories outside the domestic Chinese market hit 54.2% of total revenue, with Europe, America and the Oceania region hitting 21% and Asia (obviously not including China) reaching 18.1%.
As to which product lines are responsible for revenue, 59.8% was from operator networks, think infrastructure equipment, 25.5% was from actual mobile devices, which we’re going to assume include USB modems and those classes of devices, and 14.7% from software and services. Not bad for a company that didn’t really have a brand name just a few years ago. Their largest competitor, at least in their own market, is Huawei, who makes better handsets, but is also denied entrance into major markets like America and India because of some dodgy history with the Chinese army. In terms of infrastructure gear, no one beats Ericsson, and Nokia Siemens Networks is holding onto their number 2 spot with a white knuckled fist since they’re dangerously close to losing it.
What’s on the docket for 2011? Increasing share both at home and abroad and developing better relationships with the larger operators since they have the deeper pocket books. They don’t talk about handsets though, which is a shame since we’re big fans of the ZTE Blade.