ZTE and CSL have been awarded the LTE Infrastructure Innovation award as part of the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards 2010. 

CSL, a Telstra subsidiary and Hong Kong's leading mobile network operator, has launched a commercial trial of LTE in November 2009, and already has 40 cell sites where LTE is operational.

"We are glad to be awarded by GTB in the second consecutive year for innovation on our Next G network. This award also recognises our partnership with ZTE and joint efforts that we have been working closely to enable the people of Hong Kong to be one of the first in the world to enjoy LTE services. This will deliver on our promise to our customers of a true mobile broadband service that enables advanced corporate applications for businesses and an enhanced mobile multimedia experience for consumers,” according to Tarek Robbiati, Group Managing Director of Telstra International.

CSL's network supports UMTS/LTE dual-mode services. With ZTE's SDR technology the operator can upgrade the network with software only, enabling CSL to easily migrate from HSPA+ to LTE according to its growth requirements across Hong Kong. Traditionally, the roll-out of a next generation network would require an operator to build and run two networks. The flexibility of SDR technology reduces significantly the difficulties of upgrading to a next-gen technology.

"We have to think about the future – between 10 and 20 per cent of users will put heavy demands on the network, so carriers will need to invest in LTE to meet this demand. CSL is leading the industry with its offering and we are proud to jointly receive this award," added Zhang Jianguo, Vice President of ZTE UMTS/LTE product.

The GTB Innovation Awards are now in their fourth year and are designed to honour innovative projects involving telecoms operators and service providers around the world, in association with their vendors and suppliers. The awards ceremony took place at the London Park Lane Sheraton Hotel on the evening of June 7th.

The awards are selected and awarded by Global Telecoms Business magazine and recognise the major corporations and innovations that have helped shape the telecoms industry over the last 12 months.