ZTE, the worldwide provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has strengthened its focus on the research and development (R&D) to introduce cheap products in the global market without compromising on the quality.

ZTE, which has 16 R&D centers in China, spends around 10 percent of its income on R&D activities.

Moreover, the company also has 7 R&D centers in other countries comprising India and Pakistan.

About 40% of its work force comprise of personnel from the R&D department.

Mr. D. K. Ghosh, chairman and Managing Director of ZTE Telecom India said, “Our focus is on providing competitively priced products without compromising on quality. Our products are the best in the world.”

Though Indian telecom market is one of the high potential market throughout the world, the truth is that the operators are finding it tricky to handle high capex/opex and low Average Revenue per user (ARPU).

“ZTE realizes this and has offering for operators to deal with this situation,” Mr. Ghosh said.

Value Added Services (VAS) is one of the solutions that can assist telecom operators in bettering their incomes.

Ding Kun, Director, ZTE India R&D centre, said, “Indian operators are set to launch 3G services within a year. The VAS market will mature once 3G services are launched in India.”

Mr. Kun is also in charge of ZTE’s VAS product line in the Indian market.
 
ZTE is a global leader in VAS. Its solutions are deployed in 70 networks internationally and support about 320 million subscribers.

Its VAS portfolio includes data and content solutions, voice solutions, messaging solutions and open platform.

It would also develop VOT (Vote on Telephone) for India, and the service is aimed at viewers' vote for TV programmes.

In India, the R&D centre catering to development of VAS solutions has 150 highly educated and talented professionals.

At present ZTE India has a 1600-strong workforce and some more people will be recruited in the near future in the R&D wing.