Telecom Lead Asia: ZTE India is in talks with telecom operators to increase its revenue from enterprise business.

“We are talking to telecom operators to procure our enterprise solutions for their own customers. This strategy will help us in significantly improving our enterprise revenue in coming years,” said ZTE Telecom India Director – technical and commercial Ranjan Sharma.

As part of the new enterprise business strategy, ZTE India will work with telecom operators such as Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications, etc. Since these operators have enterprise portfolio, it will be easy for them to help us in enhancing business.

In the enterprise business, ZTE currently works with channel partners to boost business.

The other major areas of focus will be machine-2-machine (M2M) and customized application in the VAS sector.

ZTE worked with Beetel Teletech to successfully expand its data product portfolio, into the enterprise space.

ZTE is betting on its BSNL order for 15 million lines — 2G and 3G — to grow further in India.

Besides BSNL, ZTE India is working with Reliance Communications and Aircel to improve its telecom operator revenue.

ZTE India is also bullish about LTE opportunities in India. The Chinese telecom equipment maker has already bagged TD-LTE orders from Airtel’s Kolkata and Chandigarh circles.

The telecom equipment maker is also in talks with Reliance Jio Infocomm to assist the 4G operator to launch TD-LTE mobile broadband services. It has not yet signed any deal with Reliance Jio Infocomm.

To cash in on the 4G growth, ZTE will be unveiling TD-LTE phones in the country.

Though ZTE India has strong focus on enterprises and terminals business, telecom carrier business generates maximum revenue. ZTE India reported revenue of around $700 million in 2012.

“Refarming will be a big opportunity for us in coming years. Our SDR platform supports 2G/UMTS/4G roll outs. The cost effective SDR solution will be in demand when refarming happens,” Sharma added.

In 2013, ZTE will launch a range of terminals including 3G data cards and smartphones in India, with a view to a 30 percent increase in smartphone revenue.

Globally, ZTE is going through a tough phase. ZTE posted $13.54 billion revenue in 2012, down 2.4 percent and net loss of $460 million. The world’s No.5 telecom equipment maker posted its first annual net loss at $460 million due to project delays and falling margins in emerging markets.

In 2011, the Shenzhen-based company had reported net profit of 2.06 billion yuan. Delays in some network contracts and lower sales of feature handsets have impacted ZTE’s 2012 revenue. Income from some lower-margin contracts in Africa, South America and China in 2012 also resulted in a drop in gross profit margin.

Pix source: bloomberg.com

Baburajan K
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