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ZTE in talks with 3 operators to launch 4G in 2014

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Chinese handset vendor ZTE is all set to launch its 4G handsets by mid-next year, in association with three operators who are due to launch 4G next year.

Speaking to dna, Amit Saxena, marketing director, terminals business, ZTE India, said. " ZTE has 90% market share in 4G (including handsets, data cards, modems)....however, we are expecting at least four-five operators to get into the 4G business between May 2014 and 2015, and we are in talks with at least three of them for 4G equipment and handsets, as going forward, 4G will be launched with voice and data in India.”

Saxena added that 4G handsets were taking time to come to India because of the high price factor. For ZTE, which is the fifth largest handset player globally, India contributes a mere 5% to its overall revenues – pegged at $400 million at the end of October 2013.

This is because, despite being in the country for 13 years ZTE is better known for its back-end products like routers, switches and IP phones, and in handsets it only holds the leadership position in CDMA phones. In fact, in the last seven years, ZTE has only sold 36 million devices
In a bid to change this, ZTE launched its first experience zone in Gurgaon on Thursday, which apart from selling ZTE handsets, will also aid in brand recall by displaying videos and allowing users to experience ZTE products, aided by qualified ZTE personnel. In the next two months, the entire bouquet of ZTE products, spanning 36,000 product categories will be available at the experience zone.

ZTE is expecting revenues of $800 million from India in the next fiscal - $500 million is expected to come from equipment business and $300 million from its terminal business that includes handsets and other mobility devices.

Saxena said, “While globally we compete with the likes of Nokia and Samsung, in India our first step will be to understand the customer, second to launch services and devices as per Indian requirements and then only we can think of competing in the saturated Indian market. We expect this process to take four years at least.”

In preparation, ZTE will be launching 40 devices in India (eight in the next six months) which are dual SIM, compared to their flagship single SIM handsets for other markets.

In India, handsets will also have higher battery life, larger screens and slimmer bodies – as per the demand.

“In the next three-four months, we will also be launching handsets with more localised apps, including cloud, entertainment, infotainment and utilities. Later, we plan to launch our own ZTE app store and ZTE cloud,’ said Saxena.

“Consequently, we have also increased our prices in keeping with these Indian market customisations to Rs 8,000 from Rs 5,000 on the lower end and from Rs 8,000 to Rs 18,000 on the higher side,” he added.

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