LISTED ZTE Corp surged yesterday to end seven consecutive days of decline after the firm said yesterday it was still in the race to compete for an order from China Telecom.

ZTE shares closed 6.68 percent higher at 35.59 yuan (US$5.23) while the Shenzhen stock market climbed 7.13 percent yesterday.

ZTE's share price had dropped about 20 percent in the past 10 days on speculation that it didn't win the major share of China Telecom's 10-billion-yuan order for mobile base stations and handsets based on CDMA (code division multiple access) technology.

Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies won 70 percent of China Telecom's contract through an ultra-low bidding price, analysts and media said yesterday.

"The outcome of the tender has yet to be announced and any speculation on the outcome of the tender is unfounded," ZTE said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

China Telecom, which acquired China Unicom's CDMA network and business, has to upgrade its network to compete with China Mobile and the new China Unicom.

By the end of July, the number of Chinese CDMA users reached 427.5 million, a decline of 41,300 from a month ago, the first drop this year.

Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and Motorola are the other equipment makers bidding for the contract.

ZTE is set to keep its market share of 32 percent, according to Guotai Junan Securities.

Source:shanghaidaily.com