Telecom equipment and network solution provider ZTE will cut down its Chinese employee strength

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in India to two to three per cent. ZTE employs 2,300 people in India.

Chairman and managing director ZTE Telecom India DK Ghosh said, “Going forward we will reduce the Chinese employee strength to two to three per cent. At present there are around 13 per cent Chinese employees in India.”

The firm hired around 1,000 engineers in 2009 and is planning to hire the same number of engineers this year. “Of the total recruitments in 2009, more than 50 per cent were being hired from India. We are investing in R&D and intend to have a lab in India. However, we do not have details on the investment as we are still working on it,” Ghosh said. The firm plans to invest Rs 200 crore towards R&D.

He said that the company registered a 50 per cent sales growth in the Indian telecom market. “We target to achieve market share of 15 to 20 per cent this year from the 3G business. The Indian telecom sector is experiencing revolutionary growth with the 3G wave. To meet the evolving requirements of the industry, ZTE plans to make targeted investments in the 2G, 3G, bearer network and fixed line broadband,” he said.

In 2009-10, India contributed around 10.10 per cent to the global revenues of the company. China one of the largest revenue garner contributed 50.4 per cent to the revenues.

In a 3G focused environment, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (one of the third-generation mobile telecommunications technologies) market size globally is expected to be around $50 billion, while the WiMax segment will be to the tune of $20 billion.

Although he did not take their names, Ghosh said that the firm is conducting long term evolution trials for two large operators in India. Among other network equipment providers in this space includes Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Alcatel Lucent and Huawei.