Handset manufacturer expects the UK market to be a key driver as it looks to achieve its aims of becoming a leading global player in just over three years.
Chinese handset manufacturer ZTE said it wants to become a global top-three handset manufacturer by 2015, as it readies its assault on the UK market.
ZTE UK director of mobile device operations Wu Sa (pictured) told Mobile News he expects the UK to be a “key driver” in the Chinese manufacturer’s ambitions.
ZTE, like Chinese rival Huawei, has made its intentions clear in recent months, to become a brand name in the handset market, having provided ODM handsets for network operators.
Its ambitions to become a top three manufacturer echo those of Huawei.
ZTE recently unveiled a partnership with distributor Brightpoint to bring its ownbrand devices to the UK in Q4. A number of ZTE Android devices, including the Skate, Tureis and Libra, are expected to launch shortly. Details on price and carriers are unconfirmed.
Sa said ZTE was already one of the fastest growing ODM device manufacturers and has a 50 per cent share of this market in the UK. Examples currently available in the UK include the San Francisco on Orange and the Racer on Three.
ZTE was ranked fourth for global market share by analyst IDC in 2010, with 3.7 per cent, behind LG (8.4 per cent), Samsung (20.2 per cent) and Nokia (32.6 per cent). Its position is driven mainly by its sales of low-cost feature phones in China as well as emerging markets in Africa and Latin America.
Sa said: “We certainly aspire in the next two to three years to establish ZTE as one of the leading vendors in the UK market. To achieve that is to bring the value to the consumers and to our customers in the market.