ZTE loses £800m over a 12 month period

ZTE is optimistic for the future despite recording a full-year loss of 7 billion Yuan (£791m) last year due to US sanctions that have now been revoked.

The Chinese telecommunications network equipment manufacturer was banned from obtaining products and services from US suppliers after it breached an agreement reached for illegally shipping products to North Korea and Iran.

ZTE, which sources up to 30 percent of its components from the US, shut down its operations as a result and claimed its survival was at risk.

• ZTE profitability
• UK telcos warned against ZTE kit
• ZTE returns to normal

What is 5G?

However, following the intervention of President Donald Trump, the company struck a deal with the US government saw the ban overturned in exchange for a $1 billion fine and a commitment to change its board and management team.

The short-term financial implications were severe, however. Full year revenues slumped by 21.4 percent to 86 billion Yuan (£9.7bn) and it posted a first-half loss of 7.8 billion Yuan (£881.7m).

But the company will be pleased by a rebound in the final quarter in which it recorded a profit of 276 million Yuan (£31.2m). It is now predicting first-quarter profits of 1.2 billion Yuan (£135.7m), with shareholders pleased at the outcome.

ZTE is the world’s fourth largest telco equipment maker in the world, behind Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia. However, ZTE is excluded from several markets, including the US, on national security grounds.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned UK telcos against using ZTE’s kit because it would impact a specialist GCHQ unit’s ability to monitor Huawei equipment against potential interference from the Chinese government.




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Qualcomm head of networking discusses the future of the intelligent network

Amid all the talk of 5G and full fiber networks, it’s perhaps unsurprising that local wireless connectivity has been lost in the shuffle. But Wi-Fi’s role in allowing end users to access the applications that next-generation networks will enable should not be underestimated.

Earlier this year, the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to adopt a more consumer-friendly nomenclature, ditching technical standards like ‘Wi-Fi 802.11ac’ for a more generational approach. This means that the next major iteration of the technology – Wi-Fi 802.11ax – will be known as ‘Wi-Fi’ 6.

At Broadband World Forum (BBWF), Rahul Patel, the head of Qualcomm’s Connectivity & Networking business unit, was keen to stress the role of Wi-Fi in powering connected devices around the home and declared there had been a “revival” in home network innovation.

Wi-Fi revival

He noted that in 2008 only a third of mobile phones had Wi-Fi, while the technological shift from 802.11b to 802.11n was just starting to occur. Back then, Wi-Fi was still considered a luxury and routers and modems were often sold separately.

Today even cheap feature phones have access to Wi-Fi and it is thought that by 2020, there will be an average of 24 devices in every home. But despite this explosion in demand, wireless connectivity hasn’t advanced at the same rate.

“A decade later and a lot has changed within the home,” he said. “TVs use Wi-Fi while Netflix and Amazon Prime are mainstays. There are a lot of IoT devices such as smart speakers – even smart vacuums!”

“Most of the Wi-Fi sourced today is routed through 802.11an. We’ve come a long way in terms of consumption, but Wi-Fi is the same as it was. Today, consumers think cellular is faster than W-Fi and that’s why people don’t turn on Wi-Fi.

“Overall, satisfaction is pretty low. When people start to do more things, connection speeds come down.”

Patel claimed that a third of people think 4G is faster than Wi-Fi but in reality, wireless speeds are often three times faster. The gap between Wi-Fi and cellular is narrowing, however.

A recent study by OpenSignal found that advances in mobile networks meant some countries had faster 4G speeds than Wi-Fi, but the reality is but the reality is that Wi-Fi is a key technology thanks to its low cost and quality indoor coverage.

Technological advances

Patel says it’s not that Wi-Fi technology hasn’t kept up. He believes that Wi-Fi 6 and mesh Wi-Fi can make a real difference. And as more devices are added to the network, such as smart speakers, the stronger these mesh networks become.

“It’s not that Wi-Fi technology hasn’t kept up,” he said. “Wi-Fi is about two or three generations away from what it was ten years ago. Wi-Fi is using now new spectrum in the 60GHz mmWave band and Wi-Fi in the home has moved away from being a single router to a meshed network called mesh Wi-Fi.

 “Mesh networking is foundational for smart home connectivity. In the US today, 50 per cent of router purchases are for mesh networking. It is one of the only categories in consumer electronics where [Average Selling Price (ASP)] has gone up. This shows the importance of Wi-Fi as consumers are not willing to compromise.”

When it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT), Patel is adamant that Wi-Fi is just one part of the connectivity story. He said that it is up to carriers and manufacturers to pick the best type of connectivity for each application, whether this is Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee or cellular.

 “You call it IoT, but it comes in different flavors,” he said. “The consumer must not be burdened with picking which connectivity as devices can be connected by any of these [standards].”

Intelligent networks

But the most revolutionary element of Wi-Fi could be its future intelligence. Self-Optimising Networking technology is already employed by mobile operators, but Patel believes smart home networks will use the various elements connected to them to make decisions.

“We also believe that smart home networks have to evolve to become cognitive,” he said. That’s not just a network that is smart but is going to learn and make decisions. Some examples have already started to emerge: voice and networks are coming together in a nice way.”

Networks could also start to become physically aware.


“Networks are going to sense,” Patel continued. “There are certain RF characteristics that the body presents. Over time, the networks will learn this and provide a level of decision making about what will go on the network.

“Networks will be able to recognize who is walking into a particular room, whether it’s a pet or a human being, or if someone falls. The mesh network will be able to send for help or detect whether a door is open [and alert the police]. This is way more than the smart home today.



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Nokia hopes organizational changes will give it a 5G advantage.

Nokia is reorganizing its internal structure and leadership team with the creation of a new Access Network Division which it believes will help it gain a greater share of the market for 5G equipment.

The idea is that by bringing its mobile and fixed network divisions into a single business unit, Nokia can emphasize the value of its end-to-end capabilities to mobile operators.

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The heads of mobile and fixed will report to a new President of Access Networks, who will be appointed in the new year.

Nokia 5G

Tommi Uitto, a 23-year veteran of Nokia, is the company’s new President of Mobile Networks, replacing Marc Rouanne who will leave the company. A head of Fixed Networks is still to be announced.

"Nokia has a unique advantage in the 5G era with its end-to-end portfolio," said Rajeev Suri, . "By creating a single Access Networks organization that includes both fixed and mobile, we can improve our customer focus, simplify our management structure, and more efficiently leverage our full portfolio.

“Tommi is a strong leader with the right background in both sales and product development and I am pleased that he has accepted this role. He brings deep credibility from across the telecommunications industry and a proven ability to drive product leadership and business performance.”

Nokia will compete with the likes of Huawei, Ericsson, and Samsung in the 5G network equipment market, with the company hoping demand for next-generation networks will boost its revenue sheet as 4G equipment sales slow.

Additionally, Nokia expects its patents to generate €3 in royalty payments for every 5G smartphone sold.



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Washington reportedly steps up opposition to Huawei.

The US is reportedly urging governments and telecoms providers in allied countries to follow its lead and prevent the use of Huawei’s networking equipment in their mobile and fixed infrastructure.

A report in The Wall Street Journal claims US government officials have made contact with foreign counterparts and telecoms executives in several countries to discuss the security concerns it has about the Chinese company.

The site also suggests that Washington is considering an increase in financial aid for telecoms development in countries that avoid Huawei’s products. Countries in which the US has a military base, such as Germany, Italy, and Japan, are of particular interest.

Huawei 5G equipment

Huawei has effectively been frozen out of the US market, although it does provide equipment to a number of smaller players in the country, while Australia has banned its operators from using Huawei equipment in their 5G rollouts on national security grounds.

The main basis for these fears is a perception that Huawei is linked to the Chinese government and that the use of the company’s equipment risks the possibility of backdoors that could be used for espionage.

Huawei has repeatedly denied such accusations, pointing out that it works with security agencies around the world and that it sells products to more than 500 operators in 170 countries without issue. This includes the UK, where BT, EE, Vodafone and Three are all customers.

“Huawei is surprised by the behaviors of the US government detailed in the article,” a Huawei spokesperson told TechRadar Pro. “If a government's behavior extends beyond its jurisdiction, such activity should not be encouraged. Huawei firmly believes that our partners and customers will make the right choice based on their own judgment and experience of working with Huawei. We will continue to serve our global customers with our innovative solutions.”

There is little demand among operators for any barriers to the use of Huawei kit as this would reduce choice, hinder innovation and increase costs. Only this week, Huawei revealed it had shipped more than 10,000 5G base stations outside China and had signed 22 commercial 5G contracts with foreign operators.



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Company believes the new X Series is the next step to dominance in its fully integrated VoIP strategy.

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