ZTE plans to open network operating centre in India

SHANGHAI: China's telecom equipment manufacturer ZTE Corporation plans to establish a Global Network Operating Centre (GNOC) in India to manage the networks of multiple operators across Asia and Africa, a top company executive told ET.

“ZTE is in discussions with several telecom operators in Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria to manage their networks from a future GNOC in India,” said Xu Huijun, senior vice-president (wireless business) at China’s second largest telecom gear maker. Xu was talking to ET here on the sidelines of Mobile Asia Expo.

At present, ZTE operates GNOCs in China and Romania to manage the requirements of Chinese and European operator clients.

ZTE declined to reveal the potential investment in the India GNOC, but said costs would largely hinge on its total requirement of international leased circuits, which is a critical infrastructure.

The company, however, acknowledged that the new GNOC would trigger a sharp surge in its manpower needs in India. ZTE may announce aggressive hiring plans in tandem with the GNOC rollout in the coming months, the executive quoted earlier said.

At present, ZTE’s India unit operates only a national NOC in Gurgaon, which caters to the network management needs of Aircel, Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices.
ZTE plans to upgrade its national NOC into a global facility, but will finalise the scale of the project only after it has a fix on specific needs of operator clients in Asia and Africa.

“Many international operators prefer a local NOC and we are still in discussions to finalise the value proposition of delivering managed services from a distant global facility in India,” said Xu.

ZTE’s upcoming GNOC in India will be geared to help operator clients plug holes in their respective networks and enhance customer experience.

“The GNOC will advice operators on ways to improve end-to-end delivery of voice and data services, network quality, which in turn will enhance customer experience,” said Joe Zhou, director (global service solution) at ZTE Corp.

He added that a shade over 30% of ZTE’s global revenues (excluding the handset business) come from global services. Out of this, a whopping 63% come from international markets, while the rest is from mainland China.

(The correspondent is in Shanghai at the invitation of ZTE Corp)