China Unicom and ZTE sign strategic cooperation agreement on joint 5G and IoT innovation

16 August 2016, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today announced that a signing ceremony for a strategic cooperation agreement on joint 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) innovation has been held with China Unicom. Shao Guanglu, deputy general manager of China Unicom and Xu Huijun, CTO of ZTE Corporation, attended the ceremony and signed the agreement. Emphasising their own capabilities, in-line with national innovation and corporate development strategies, both parties will work closely together in the fields of 5G and IoT to foster a sound ecosystem and promote sustainable development of the industry.

China Unicom and ZTE will work together to develop cooperative projects and conduct research on application scenarios, product demands, service applications, market development and other related fields. They will also look at possible future directions of 5G and IoT, and aim to achieve research results that meet the network development and evolution requirements for new business models, laying a solid foundation for long-term technical cooperation and a mutually beneficial results for both parties. In the 5G field, both China Unicom and ZTE focus on research and investment in 5G network architecture, Mobile-Edge Computing (MEC), cross-layer optimisation, bearer and other key 5G technologies to promote 5G development strategies and standardisation. In the field of IoT, both parties conduct research and experimental verification of key IoT technologies and implement research and development of service solutions and products to promote technological development and industrial cooperation.

Mr. Shao Guanglu, deputy general manager of China Unicom, said in his speech that ZTE is a world-leading equipment manufacturer and also a long-term partner of China Unicom. This cooperation in the 5G and IoT fields is not simply the traditional cooperation in business and equipment but one of research and development (R&D) and technologies. Because of this, both parties can reach an agreement from as early as the R&D stage, thereby enhancing their joint efforts to take a leading position in the industry. In addition, China Unicom will call upon other operators endowed with common resources for strategic cooperation with ZTE, jointly promoting future network development, technological research and business models. Mr. Shao hopes that both parties achieve outstanding results as soon as possible and wishes ZTE even greater successes in the future.

Mr. Xu Huijun, ZTE's CTO, said in his speech that 5G and IoT are core strategies for ZTE, which aims to become a global pioneer in these fields with China Unicom as a long-term strategic partner. ZTE will work with China Unicom to strengthen the research in 5G, IoT and future new technologies. They will jointly promote the industrialisation process, network development and technological research to help China Unicom enter the era of 5G and IoT. Mr. Xu hopes that this cooperation enables both parties to achieve outstanding results.