ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company, which, according to who you ask, is either a threat to national security or a middling handset manufacturer, announced today that they were going to report losses for the first nine months of 2012. In a refreshing response, top management has agreed to cut their own pay. Wish we’d see more of that from Western technology companies! We’re looking at you, RIM.
ZTE is an interesting company because it is one of the few handset manufacturers to be tied to Mozilla’s upcoming smartphone OS. Plus, it’s not a minor company; It’s the world’s 5th largest telecoms equipment manufacturer by revenue and the world’s 4th largest handset maker by unit volume. And despite these growing pains, ZTE is still a very viable company–revenue increased year-on-year, and places like China and and Southeastern Asia still need lots of wireless infrastructure, which is kinda ZTE’s bailiwick. So it’s not the end of the line for the beleaguered Chinese company, but at least some executives won’t be getting new BMWs this year.
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