At least every prepaid carrier in the US offers ZTE devices and ZTE accounts for nearly 14% of the phones carried by some of the prepaid operators
Chinese multinational ZTE, which was once dominating the prepaid market in the US, is vanishing from the prepaid operator’s portfolio as the volume of ZTE phones in the American prepaid market has declined by 48%% during the June-September quarter of 2018, according to data and analytics company GlobalData.
The analytics company cited the company’s troubles with the US Government for the decline in numbers of ZTE phones.
US carriers are wary
GlobalData further said that the sudden decline in the number of ZTE phones indicates the wariness on the part of telecom carriers in the US to associate with ZTE because of political pressure.
Commenting on the report, Anisha Bhatia, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, said that the American carriers are the gatekeepers for sale of smartphones in the US market. They are highly prone to risks in the heavily regulated US market.
According to the GlobalData, at least every prepaid carrier in the US offers ZTE devices. The Chinese multinational accounts for nearly 14% of the phones carried by some of the prepaid operators. The proportion is even more in the segment of under $150 price.
Till September end, ZTE had just 21 models of phone in the prepaid market, which is half the number as compared to three months ago.
Restructure its operations
Disappearing of phones from operator shelves is not a new phenomenon but the major issue this time is the dropping of a large number of phones in a single three-month period, and ZTE has not substituted the devices with the new ones, mentioned GlobalData.
Bhatia said that ZTE has to restructure its operations in order to bring financial transparency and separate its phones division from its infrastructure business, to again find its position in the US market.
