Japan's mobile phone carriers are gearing up for massive investments in fifth-generation technology, and major Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE wants a piece of the pie.
Chen Liangwen, ZTE Japan's chief technology officer, said Japan will become the world's showcase for 5G technology, which is expected to become commercially available in 2020.
Japan's three mobile phone carriers are expected to invest heavily in 5G infrastructure ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
ZTE's Shenzhen head office sent Chen to Japan to ensure that Ericsson of Sweden and other European companies did not win all of Japan's 5G contracts.
Currently, ZTE Japan has about 400 employees, including maintenance staff, over 10 times more than when Chen joined ZTE from Japanese electronics maker NEC in 2009.
ZTE last year opened its Daimon R&D Center near Tokyo's Hamamatsucho Station, at a cost of 1 billion yen ($9.34 million). Over the past six months, representatives from nearly 40 companies from Japan, Chile, Peru, Indonesia and other countries have visited the center.
Chen said that even with the new facilities, ZTE does not have enough space to conduct many 5G-related tests and the company is looking for a bigger office in Tokyo. About 500-600 engineers, including those at its Shenzhen head office, will spend more than six months testing equipment for Japan's mobile service providers.
ZTE's strength lies in its ultra-low prices, which are about a fifth of those of its European and Japanese competitors. It is currently testing 5G infrastructure equipment with SoftBank.
It may prove difficult for ZTE to win contracts from NTT Docomo and KDDI during the initial stages, but the company has a chance to turn the tables as 5G investment is expected to last for at least 10 years.
ZTE delivers equipment to SoftBank and other carriers in the Japanese wireless infrastructure market. It mainly has dealings with Wireless City Planning, a unit of SoftBank Group and a provider of high-volume data transmission using the 2.5 GHz band.
Source: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/ZTE-jumps-into-Japan-s-5G-market-with-low-cost-strategy