ZTE aim their sights high

ZTE, a China-based handset vendor, aims to become one of the world’s top five handset vendors within the next five years. The announcement comes after a strong 2007 for the company, in which it shipped around 30 million handsets.

70% of ZTE’s shipments during 2007 were to worldwide telecom partners.

By the fourth quarter of 2007, ZTE had already reached the status of the world’s seventh largest handset vendor, shipping 1.2% of the world’s handsets.

ZTE predicts that by 2012 handset sales will make up 50% of its total revenues. This is compared to just 20% in 2006 and 25% last year.

To boost sales worldwide and make the most of their co-operative relationships with telecom service providers worldwide, ZTE is planning to launch their own-brand multi-mode handsets and smartphones. These will complement their current range of own-brand entry level handsets.

Rumours have been floating around the market that ZTE is planning to purchase Motorola’s handset unit. However, sources in Taiwan say that there is a low possibility of this happening due to the political implications of such a merger.