ZTE launches 'Smart City' project

Telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp announced its Smart City strategy on Thursday, aiming to grab business opportunities in China's urban areas.

The project is designed to provide integrated IT solutions, from information collection to application development, to governments at all levels.

ZTE said that the system will help improve government management, offer human-oriented services and facilitate people's access to public resources.

The company has launched similar projects in a dozen cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.

Chang Jinyun, vice-president of ZTE, said the project is likely to contribute as much as half of the company's government and enterprise business unit revenue in the future, from one-seventh now.

"Chinese cities, which are now in the process of moving to a more intelligent and innovative way of operating, provide huge potential for the project, " said Chang.

More than 100 Chinese cities have pledged to become "smart cities" during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

ZTE's government and enterprise business unit is an emerging revenue source for the company's total sales. The company is striving to find new revenue drivers, amid the global economic downturn, to complement its traditional telecom equipment business.

The government and enterprise business unit has seen the fastest revenue growth pace among all sectors. The unit's revenue last year was 8.8 billion yuan ($1.40 billion), a jump of more than 90 percent year-on-year. Chang said he expected the sector's sales to maintain an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent over the next few years.

Other Chinese telecom carriers have also launched similar projects. China Mobile Ltd, the nation's biggest mobile carrier by subscribers, has promoted its Wireless City project since 2008.

China has the world's largest urban population with about 700 million people, and millions of people are still thronging into cities every year.

Similar projects have emerged across the world in recent years, with global investment expected to reach $57 billion by 2014, ZTE said on Thursday.