ZTE has opened a new research and development (R&D) centre in Tokyo to focus on the development of 5G and other next-generation network technologies.
The new R&D centre will support ZTE’s partnerships with operators and academic institutions in Japan on the deployment of ZTE’s proprietary Pre5G technology and ongoing research on 4G and 5G mobile communications. The opening ceremony for the new R&D centre was officiated by senior executives including Shi Lirong, President and Chief Executive Officer of ZTE, Zhang Renjun, Senior Vice President of ZTE, and Zhang Shumin, Head of ZTE Mobile Devices in Asia Pacific. Following the new opening, ZTE now operates 20 R&D centres in Asia, North America and Europe.
“ZTE’s world-class research on 5G technology will be further strengthened by the new R&D centre in Japan,” Mr. Shi said. “Japan is home to many of ZTE’s most important customers, and we will continue to increase our investment in this key market. The new R&D centre will enable ZTE to recruit top local talents to join in our research on next-generation technologies.”
In July, ZTE announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SoftBank Corp. to collaborate on research and development of Pre5G mobile communications network technology. Under the MOU, ZTE and SoftBank agreed to cooperate on R&D, evaluation and verification of mobile communications solutions based on ZTE’s Pre5G technology, including massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO).
5G research is key to ZTE’s strategy to become a global leader in the development of next-generation network technology. In June 2014, ZTE was the first vendor to propose the concept of Pre5G, and the company launched the Pre5G base station integrating base band unit (BBU) and remote radio unit (RRU) technology at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March 2015, enabling carriers to emulate the behaviour of future 5G networks on existing 4G LTE network infrastructure.
