ZTE releases 2020 sustainability report

SHENZHEN, China, May 20. /PRNewswire/ ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile internet, today has announced its 2020 Sustainability Report.

The report shows that ZTE, following the strategic positioning of "driver of the digital economy", proactively fulfilled its corporate social responsibilities in 2020. While leveraging technologies to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, ZTE made great efforts to promote the development of the digital economy and pursue green growth. Meanwhile, the company contributed to the global community and continuously improved its corporate governance practices and plans for the future.

ZTE has annually released sustainability reports for 13 consecutive years.

Leveraging 5G to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in an all-round way

At the beginning of 2020, in the face of the sudden outbreak of Covid-19, ZTE promptly activated the emergency response mechanism of pandemic prevention and control. While strictly implementing pandemic prevention measures to protect employees' health and safety, ZTE shouldered corporate social responsibilities and took action to combat Covid-19 through the use of various technologies.

Early in the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, ZTE quickly coordinated worldwide resources, covering production and distribution, network construction, guaranteed communication, on-site services and service applications and more. It constructed 4G/5G networks with operators for over 210 hospitals in 82 cities in 26 provinces at home, bridging the communications gap needed for life support. As the pandemic worsened, ZTE joined hands with industry partners to develop innovative applications including 5G-based telemedicine, smart logistics, 5G cloud-based classes, and three-dimensional security, leveraging technologies to beat Covid-19.

In addition, confronted with the challenge of the global pandemic, ZTE set up 12 volunteer branches in Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing, and other cities in China as well as in Myanmar, India, and other countries. All of these volunteers provided solid support for the relief of the pandemic and other emergencies. At the same time, ZTE Foundation donated pandemic prevention materials, including face masks, goggles, protective suits, and ventilators, to the pandemic frontlines in China and over 50 countries and regions around the world.

Pursuing higher core competence and achieving shared successes in the digital economy

The digital economy is speeding up integration into other industries and has become a new driver of global economic development. Against this background, ZTE is committed to being a driver of the digital economy by creating and sharing development opportunities with related parties to jointly promote the healthy development of the digital economy.

President of ZTE Corporation, Xu Ziyang commented, "In 2020, the pandemic greatly changed the way people live and work, making ICT services a necessity much like air, water, and electricity. Enterprises then needed to accelerate digital and intelligent transformation, not only to reduce costs and increase efficiency, but to become more agile and intelligent, thus better coping with the uncertainties in external environments, markets, and technologies."

The report states that ZTE, to become a "driver of the digital economy", regards technological innovations as the primary driving force of corporate development. Remaining on track to pursue higher core competence, the company continuously makes innovations in chips, algorithms, architecture, databases and operating systems among others, thereby laying a solid foundation for more robust growth. ZTE has invested more than RMB 10 billion on a yearly basis in R&D and by the end of March 2021, had filed 80,000 global patents applications, with more than 38,000 granted. According to the report "Who is leading the 5G patent race?" published in February by Berlin-based IPlytics, ZTE has been included in the global top 3 for its sustainable leadership in 5G declared Standard-Essential Patents(SEP) to ETSI.

At the same time, upholding the objective of "Empowering industries through innovations and achieving shared success in the digital economy", ZTE is determined to bridge the digital divide between traditional business scenarios and digital technology applications, provide industries with scenario-based solutions that truly create value, and become a leader in the digital transformation of industries. In 2020, relying on its ultimate networks, "precise cloud and network solutions", and enabling platforms, ZTE, together with over 500 partners in industrial, transportation, energy, government, financial, cultural, and tourism industries among others, conducted 5G innovative applications and business practices, and created about 100 scenarios for innovative 5G applications. It earnestly fulfilled its responsibilities as a technology leader with strong innovative strength.

For instance, in the industrial field, a smart factory project, jointly completed by ZTE and Yunnan Sunho Aluminum, promotes the transformation and upgrading of Sunho with "intelligent manufacturing" and enables the traditional industrial enterprise to save operating costs, reduce manpower and improve efficiency. In terms of healthcare, ZTE offers 5G smart healthcare solutions that incorporate such innovative applications as operation demonstrations, remote consultation, remote ward rounds, as well as AI-aided and mobile diagnosis, to protect every human life.

And in terms of education, the company provides multiple innovative scenarios and applications for education, such as 5G + 4K remote classrooms, 5G cloud-based XR education, 5G + AR teaching, and 5G+ holographic classrooms, to ignite children's curiosity and dreams about the future.

In the financial area, ZTE's self-developed distributed database, GoldenDB, serves as a secure and reliable foundation for the banking service system, safeguarding every transaction for over 300 million customers. Additionally, by applying innovative technologies to smart phones as well as personal and home information terminals, ZTE makes all-scenario 5G intelligent lifestyle a reality with a rich variety of 5G smart terminals, for shared success in the digital economy.

Putting the concept of green development into practice to reach the goal of "carbon neutrality"

With "carbon neutrality" reaching a consensus in major economies across the globe, ZTE actively participates in the decarbonization of the global economy, and further promotes the commercialization of green 5G in several fields, to help all industries quickly enter into the green development channel.

"We firmly believe that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and try to reduce the impact on our environment from the source. We use more environmentally friendly raw materials and improve production techniques," Xie Junshi, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ZTE, stresses in the report. "We employ more advanced technologies to promote product performance. We have been committed to ultimate spectrum efficiency, ultimate energy efficiency, and ultimate network operation efficiency to facilitate sustainable development."

With the advent of the 5G era, the energy consumption of 5G base stations and terminals is regarded as a key issue for the sustainable development of the industry. ZTE has been actively exploring how to reduce energy consumption of base stations and has laid out more than 500 green 5G innovation patents. The company has been devoted to increasing efficiency and reducing consumption by virtue of its self-developed high-performance chips, high-efficiency operation, leading structural design, and technology strength. Also, ZTE has assisted more than 20 operators in building over 500,000 high-efficiency green sites in countries and regions like China, Italy, Vietnam, Myanmar, Pakistan, South Africa, and Ethiopia. In 2020, ZTE released the PowerPilot – a 4G and 5G network energy-efficient solution. The energy saved by the PowerPilot solution is twice as much as that of conventional AI-based energy saving solutions, and it can save up to 20% energy in a multi-mode network, thereby effectively reducing operational expenditure. At present, the solution has been successfully commercialized on more than 700,000 sites in over 20 networks worldwide.

In addition, ZTE also actively participates in subject research related to energy-saving standards. In 2020, together with GSMA Intelligence, a leader in global telecoms, media and technology (TMT) research and part of the broader GSMA, ZTE released the white paper "5G Energy Efficiencies, Green is the New Black". The white paper analyzes the background and principles of building and improving the energy efficiency of telecommunications networks in the 5G era from the aspects of cost reduction, network performance optimization, energy security, and contribution to global carbon emission reduction. It also summarizes the feasibility of energy saving and consumption reduction through innovation.

As an active practitioner of green development, ZTE Corporation also comprehensively promotes environmental protection management in the company's daily office and production operations. The company is oriented by management targets in terms of energy saving and exhaust emissions, and it further strengthens production technology and equipment improvement to reduce the consumption of natural resources and the impact on the environment.

Growing with its employees and partners and contributing to the global community

In 2020, ZTE further enhanced its internal digital transformation, and created an all-cloud, intelligent, and lightweight "Ultimate Cloud Company" in the fields of R&D, operation, office, and production. While reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and improving quality, the company flexibly confronted the uncertainties of the future. During the pandemic, ZTE cloud services enabled more than 70,000 employees worldwide to work from home. More importantly, the remote work efficiency of over 30,000 R&D staff reached more than 95%.

In terms of corporate governance, ZTE has further strengthened the attraction and incentives of core talents, improved the compliance management system, enhanced the corporate internal control management system, and achieved high-quality growth along the three-phase route of "recovery, growth, and expansion".

Regarding the aspects of contributions to the global community, ZTE Foundation always stays committed to its mission, which is "to advocate the spirit of public welfare, fulfill corporate responsibility, and promote public welfare development". Over the past year, the company has been focusing on three major fields: medical care, education assistance, and aid for disadvantaged groups, and has actively organized public welfare and poverty alleviation activities.

In 2020, the ZTE Foundation invested more than 14 million yuan in public welfare, implemented 37 public welfare projects, and carried out 73 volunteer public welfare activities. The Foundation's 2020 China Foundation Transparency Index (FTI) scored full marks in three consecutive years and won the "Annual Charity Innovation Award" and the "Annual Charity Project Award" at the 10th China Charity Festival.

Moving forward, ZTE will stay firmly committed to sustainable development around the world and, as "a driver of the digital economy", put its social responsibility into practice. The company will continue to grow together with its employees and partners, expecting to realize the co-development of enterprises, individuals, partners and environment to enable communication and trust everywhere.