ZTE on Tuesday reported revenue of 68.5 billion yuan (€9.8 billion) for the first nine months of 2015, an increase of 16.5% on the same period last year.
According to a statement from the Chinese kit maker, the growth was driven by the networks business, which saw revenues between January and September surge 22.4% year-on-year, driven by strong demand for 3G, 4G, and fibre infrastructure at home and abroad. Revenue from software and services i ncreased by 45.9%.
It did not provide revenue splits for its various divisions.
"In the domestic market, large-scale deployments of 4G networks continued to be carried out in greater depth, while wireline broadband entered a stage of faster development," ZTE said.
"The demand for cloud computing and big data applications, smart city and high-end routers continued to grow, as the group worked proactively in support of the network construction plans of domestic carriers and government and corporate clients," the company added. "In the international market, the group has achieved stable operations and quality growth by forging more extensive partnerships with mainstream carriers in the global market."
ZTE’s handset business is struggling though, with nine-month revenue down 9% compared to last year, due to a weaker performance in China, where it faces stiff competition from the likes of Huawei and Xiaomi, among others.
Profit for the period came in at CNY2.6 billion (€370.8 million), up 42.2% on the first nine months of 2014.
Meanwhile, in the three months to 30 September, ZTE generated revenue of CNY22.6 billion, up 7.2% year-on-year, and profit of CNY988.6 million, up 40.6% compared to a year ago.
