ZTE Corp is talking with Chinese financial companies in hopes of raising a total of US$15 billion to be used as credit or loans to be offered to overseas telecommunications carriers to buy ZTE's equipment, its president said Thursday.

Most telcos, both in the developing and developed countries, face capital pressure amid the global financial crisis. Such credit will help ZTE expand business in the overseas markets, industry insiders said yesterday.

"We aim to seek opportunities during the crisis and the Chinese finance firms can also expand overseas through the (US$15 billion) credit," Yin Yimin said in an interview at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, which is posted on Sina.com.

In the first three quarters, revenue for ZTE, China's biggest public telco equipment maker, grew 29.4 percent year on year. At present, ZTE's overseas income contributes 60 percent of its total revenue and this is expected to climb this year, said Yin.

Shares of Shenzhen-listed ZTE added 1.63 percent to close at 31.10 yuan (US$4.57) against a 1.61-percent jump in the Shenzhen stock index. ZTE's shares have gained 14 percent this year.

ZTE often offers telcos in Africa or Asia credit or loans and provide network equipment to them. Now, the Shenzhen-based firm has penetrated into the developed markets, including Europe and the United States.

In the domestic market, ZTE, Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens are the biggest winners in the coming 3G, or third generation, era, according to Gartner Inc, a US-based IT research firm.

Three telcos in January got licenses for 3G which allows faster services like movie download and video conference on their handsets.

(Shanghai Daily February 20, 2009)