ZTE surpasses Moto as No. 5 worldwide

ZTE Corp. shipped more than 60 million mobile terminals in 2009, including 13.4 million units during the fourth quarter, pushing the China-based company past Motorola Inc. into the No. 5 spot worldwide, according to iSuppli Inc. Motorola shipped approximately 12 million devices during the fourth quarter
For the fourth quarter ZTE accounted for 4% of the total mobile devices shipped worldwide, slotting in just behind No. 4 Sony Ericsson’s 4.4% market share. Nokia Corp. (38%), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (21%) and LG Electronics Co. Ltd. (10%) comfortably maintained their top positions.
ZTE noted that the 60.17 million mobile devices shipped in 2009 was a 33% increase compared with 2008 numbers and that the 2009 results included more than 40 million mobile handsets and approximately 20 million data cards. The company added that 70% of its mobile device shipments were to markets outside of China, with iSuppli noting that ZTE now controls 35% of the worldwide data card market.
For its entire operations, ZTE said it posted a 36% year-over-year gain in revenues for 2009, jumping to $8.8 billion. Net profits surged more than 48% to $359.7 million, or 21 cents per share.
On the infrastructure side, ZTE noted that broad deployment of 3G networks in China pushed revenues from its domestic operations up more than 74% in 2009 to $4.5 billion. ZTE added that it has emerged as the largest supplier of 3G network equipment in China and that it was supplying equipment to all three major domestic carriers.
ZTE has gone to great length in its attempt to broaden its reach in mobile devices and network infrastructure beyond China and recently signed a deal to deploy the world’s first CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision B network in Indonesia.