The WiMAX Network construction of Clearwire Corporation may bring opportunities to Chinese telecoms equipment providers Huawei Technologies and ZTE for their expansion in the US, according to Will Kong, research analyst at iSuppli . Both ZTE and Huawei have small market shares compared to their counterparts, but they are trying to stake a sizeable claim in the U.S. WiMax market. In detail, Huawei Technologies is hopeful to build the basic WiMAX architecture for Clearwire, and ZTE is expected to offer WiMax equipment and mobile phones to the US wireless broadband operator, according to Will Kong, an analyst with the market adviser iSuppli Corporation. Neither company would comment directly on any contract talks.
Huawei Technologies have won 41 WiMax orders all over the world by the end of 2009′s first quarter, and plans not to give up any WiMAX opportunity in North America. On the other hand, ZTE is providing Xohm WiMAX cellphones for the leading US telecoms operator Sprint Nextel Corporation, which is the parent company of Clearwire. In the US, the two Chinese companies will keep an advantage over product prices. Their was already rumors of a major Cleawire deal with Huawei in April, 09. As of late May, Clearwire had made no major vendor announcements other than the core IP that Cisco Systems will provide, although many in the industry expect the company to announce more suppliers.
“For our microwave backhaul networks, we have used off-the-shelf microwave products from suppliers like DragonWave and Motorola,” says Clearwire spokeswoman Susan Johnston. “Our labs are constantly testing new equipment from many vendors in the spirit of continuous improvement, but we are not prepared to name additional new infrastructure vendors at this time.”
“Certainly, we would like to expand our customer base in the U.S.,” says Raymond Kim, general manager of ZTE USA. The company has been in the United States since the early part of 2000. Its first U.S. handset customer was MetroPCS.
Huawei, the bigger of the two companies based on revenue worldwide, entered the North American market in 2001 and the company has been committed to the U.S. market and step by step has established a reputation. While the company builds its U.S. customer base, it is seeing great success worldwide and has become the fifth- largest telecom company after Cisco, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). Huawei said in June, 09 it expected a huge sales boost from Wimax equipment sales overseas over the next 19 months.
More about Will Kong, research analyst at iSuppli
At iSuppli, Will is responsible for the study and research on China’s wireless communication market and analyzes domesticC hinese OEMs. He also provides innovative ideas and marketing support for iSuppli service and consulting offerings in this area. Formerly, Will worked as business development of multi-market semiconductor (MMS) products for NXP. He was responsible for driving cellular-related IC sales and design-win targets in Chinese mobile handset market. He also served as a Market Analyst in NXP to track the mobile handset and communications markets in China, as well as to report on competitive strategy. Prior to joining NXP, Will was a RF IC designer in Sino-Chip OEIC. Will holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications Engineering and a Master of Science in Circuit Systems from Southeast University, China.
