ZTE has highlighted its aim to make the UK a major market for the Chinese firm in Europe, as it expressed confidence that it can compete with rivals in 5G build-outs.
Speaking to Mobile News at the Global 5G Event in Valencia in Spain, ZTE president for Western Europe Kun Hu said: “We are making more efforts to approach the UK’s four main operators, as we’re looking to make the country an important footprint for ZTE.”
Similarly to rivals
Huawei, ZTE was last year deemed a “potential risk” to national
security by British cybersecurity watchdog the National Cyber
Security Centre.
Kun explained that ZTE
has been working and investing for the last two years to be more
“transparent and compliant”, something that has yielded contract
wins and “vital” collaborations with major operators across
Europe such as Orange Spain.
ZTE opened a new cybersecurity centre within the EU’s headquarters in Brussels this month. The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the European Commission and European Council. It’s the company’s third cybersecurity centre, adding to centres in Nanjing and Rome.
Kun said: “These three centres, and others we create in future, will offer decision-makers one platform to verify to test ZTE solutions globally. From this initiative, we have had praise from governments and partners. The strategy will help our target of remaining in the European market for a long time.”
ZTE has 10 employees
based in the UK to work with the government on cybersecurity
compliance.
ZTE managing director
of 5G RAN services Alex Wang explained that the vendor is already
familiar with the UK, having built Jersey Telecom’s 4G network,
constructing 100 base stations. The firm will be upgrading the
operator’s network and connecting the Channel Islands to 5G by
2021.
He bullishly claimed
competitive markets such as the UK needs “wonders” such as ZTE to
keep prices low for consumers. Wang added that the vendor can compete
with rivals such as Ericsson and Nokia due to its better massive MIMO
technology.