China Mobile, one of the Big Three integrated telecom operators in the country, sees the shipment of a model of TD-SCDMA network based-wireless device top 1 million units, marking a breakthrough in the fixed-line telecom arena it stepped into not long ago.

1 million units of ZTE U110, TD-SCDMA wireless device customized for China Mobile, have been shipped recently, said ZTE Corporation (SZSE: 000063 and SEHK: 0763), one of the biggest telecom equipment makers in the country, lately.

The TD-SCDMA market is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the future, driving the growth of TD-SCDMA terminals, predicted Hou Weigui, chairman for the Hong Kong- and Shenzhen-listed company, noting that ZTE is ready to take a larger slice of the increasing TD-SCDMA terminal cake made by the telecom operator.

"A breaking of the 1 million mark indicates that the fast-growing TD-SCDMA patch is winning favor of customers across the country, although China Mobile is a newcomer in the fixed-line telecom sector, " pointed out Yin Yimin, president for ZTE, "we expect to capitalize on the TD-SCDMA boom to further expand our presence in the world's most populous telecom equipment market." China Mobile, once a mobile telecom operator, jumped into the fixed-line telecom services after a long-awaited industry reshuffle in 2008.

Currently, ZTE has shipped more than 2.08 million TD-SCDMA powered-terminals, nine times as much as the number in the entire 2008.

As one of the first group of companies launching the TD-SCDMA model tailored to China Mobile, the Shenzhen-based company ranks first among all the terminal makers by TD-SCDMA enabled-product series sales volume, sales revenue, and market share this year.

In mid November, China Mobile announced a TD-SCDMA terminal R&D bonus program for the second time in the year, saying that it would set aside CNY 40 million or so to bankroll the R&D of wireless device based on TD-SCDMA network.

Earlier on March 13, 2009, the telecom operator unveiled a plan to pour as much as CNY 600 million into a TD-SCDMA terminal R&D stimulus package, part of its efforts to activate the investment in the bourgeoning TD-SCDMA terminal patch.

Such an innovative R&D stimulus package will help fuel the growth of TD-SCDMA terminal market in the country, said Lou Qinjian, deputy director for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). 31 models of TD-SCDMA wireless devices had been launched by the end of November, according to earlier statistics.

source:tmcnet