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ZTE and Huawei are both bucking the recessionary trend by forecasting strong growth this year, and ZTE is seeing its first touchscreen phones adopted in the US, UK and other key markets, as it seeks to reduce its dependence on China and emerging markets.

The company's head of western European operations, Lin Cheng, in London last week, said: "We expect a strong growth in 2009 - double-digit group revenue growth." This would be lower than last year's growth rate of 27% year-on-year, he predicted, but would still be robust. Key drivers are infrastructure build-outs in China and some emerging economies, and the company also sees opportunities to offer vendor financing to operators via its recent $15bn credit line, secured from China Development Bank.

It also hopes to see handsets becoming a larger part of the equation, having contributed 22% of revenue in 2008. T-Mobile has started to see its low cost touchscreen handset, the Vairy Touch, in the UK. In the UK, it will be offered with prepaid deals for £59.99 ($88). It is described by the cellco as "an elegant mini-PDA design with touchscreen and FM radio" and also features a 1.3-megapixel camera and Bluetooth.

Gartner recently predicted ZTE would break into the global handset top five by the end of this year, focused mainly on low end and midrange models.

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