Chinese telecom equipment supplier ZTE recently announced that the company has signed an agreement with Byelorussian Telecom Network, the subsidiary of Turkish telecom operator Turkcell with the trading name BeST, according to a press release by ZTE dated July 27. Pursuant to the agreement, ZTE will deploy a commercial UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) network in Belarus for BeST, leveraging ZTE's SDR (Software Defined Radio) solution, which will allow the operator to deliver high-speed HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) data services on its existing network. Financial details of the deal, however, were not yet disclosed.

Meanwhile, ZTE also announced that the company will strengthen cooperation with Romanian mobile operator Zapp Mobile, helping the latter to update its CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) EV-DO (Evolution-Data Only) network with HSPA+ technology, the chinabyte.com reported on July 24. With its initial network coverage including Bucharest, the capital of Romania, Zapp is due to launch its 3G services around August 2009 and users are able to experience 3G services with an uplink speed of 21.6 Mbps and a downlink speed of 5.8 Mbps, according to the same source.

Aside from Belarus and Romania, ZTE also has secured similar agreements with other telecom operators, including Hong Kong-based CSL, China Unicom, Turkey-based AVEA, and Vietnam-based Viettel, according to the same source.