PARTNER CONTENT ZTE is building upon its expertise across the ICT domain to fulfill emerging industry needs shaped by token-based AI. The company’s solutions are enabling customers and operators to improve overall cost efficiency as well as network stability and user experience.

Mr. Lu Maoliang, president of ZTE Brazil, highlighted the upcoming ZTE Broadband User Congress 2026, which will take place in São Paulo from May 6 to 7, as a showcase of the company’s capabilities aimed at helping operators evolve from connectivity providers to fully integrated digital infrastructure and service providers in the AI era.

“We’re holding this broadband user conference in Brazil because its fixed broadband market is diverse and full of potential,” he said. “It’s the way to deepen our local presence and serve local needs better.” The event will allow operators, internet service providers (ISPs), technical experts and business leaders to appraise advancements such as 10 Gigabit Passive Optical Network (10G PON), fiber to the home (FTTH) and AI-driven networking.

“We already work closely with major operators including Vivo, Claro, TIM and V.tal, as well as over 1,000 local ISPs,” Mr. Lu said. “With Brazil accelerating fiber upgrades, this conference strengthens the connections with our customers and partners to drive broadband growth. We support both national operators and regional ISPs, so Brazilian users can enjoy stable, high-speed broadband.”

Fiber in broadband progress

ZTE, which has been holding a broadband user conference every year in Latin America, is positioning itself to support Brazil’s fiber transformation and digital future through its “All in AI, AI for All” and “Connectivity + Computing” strategies. “Brazil is the largest market in Latin America and globally leading the FTTx growth; the fiber network now is driving its broadband development,” Mr. Lu pointed out.

ZTE’s involvement in Brazil's telecom ecosystem includes partnering with local operators like Unifique and academic institutions like UFSC to foster broadband technology innovation and talent training. With the upcoming ZTE Broadband User Congress 2026 aptly themed ‘Monetize Your Intelligent Broadband’, the company plans to enable operators to unlock new growth beyond traditional broadband by combining connectivity and computing.

“We integrate connectivity and computing to deliver end-to-end digital infrastructure,” explained Mr. Lu. “On one hand, we use AI to enhance networks, helping operators improve efficiency and user experience. On the other hand, we expand strongly into computing with servers, data centers, cloud and energy solutions, supporting operators to build scalable computing infrastructure and develop AI services.”

Fast growth with fast networks

Riding on its full-stack capabilities from internet data center construction to cloud solutions that support secure and efficient digital transformation, ZTE’s cloud and server business more than doubled year-on-year in 2025. The company already commands around 35% market share in Brazil’s fixed broadband market amid accelerating network deployment and modernization. It has shipped more than 18 million customer premises equipment (CPE) to Brazil for large-scale, high-quality broadband services.

“Globally, we are the No.1 PON CPE vendor in the past three years,” said Mr. Lu. “In Brazil, we have delivered massive PON ports to help operators quickly expand FTTH networks.

“We launched the world’s first 50G PON combined with Wi-Fi 7 optical network unit (ONU). In Brazil, 10 Gigabit Symmetrical PON (XGS-PON) and Wi-Fi 7 are already commercially deployed, providing multi-gigabit solutions with high-performance, low-power consumption.”

As a provider of optical transport network (OTN) switches, 800G pluggable ports and high-end IP routers, ZTE has carried out a live network verification of integrated C+L full-band 1.6 Tbps transmission. These transmissions combine the conventional C-band (1530-1565 nm) and the long-wavelength L-band (1565-1625 nm) in optical networking to boost capacity and distance.

Three trends, four domains

These initiatives highlight three key trends steering ZTE’s strategic AI ambitions: 800G and full-band OTN to achieve higher capacity and efficiency; built-in AI engines to enable superior intelligent experience; and the need to support flexible evolution and multi-network convergence through decoupling.

The latter specifically leverages on technologies such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN), which enables programmatic management of network traffic; Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6), which simplifies network architectures and improves scalability; and IP over Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (IPoDWDM), which helps to reduce network complexity, power consumption, footprint and overall costs.

Through its "Connectivity + Computing" strategy, ZTE has advanced its full-stack AI capabilities across four core domains: networks, computing, home, and personal devices.

Networking innovations such as the AI-Reshaped (AIR) network solution and AI-enabled 10-gigabit all-optical networks are facilitating high-speed, converged, and intelligent connectivity, enabling broader AI application scenarios. The company is also advancing 6G-AI convergence, space-air-ground integrated networks, and integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) technologies.

Globally, ZTE’s connectivity products such as its 5G RAN, 5G core networks, optical access, and optical transport solutions continue to receive industry "Leader" ratings while its 5G base stations, 5G core networks, and fixed-network products have received top-tier recommendations. Meanwhile, the company has specifically positioned computing as a primary growth engine. On this front, ZTE has introduced multi-scenario intelligent computing solutions, including the high-efficiency Orthogonal Super-Node system featuring the AiCube intelligent computing appliance, and the Co-Sight Agent Factory platform. The solution, which supports 32 to 128 GPUs in a single cabinet, is designed for AI training and inference.

Integrating next-generation AI

ZTE has worked with partners to help customers build efficient intelligent computing infrastructure and industry-specific AI application ecosystems across sectors such as industrial manufacturing, power utilities, and urban governance. At the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2026 event in March, ZTE ‘upgraded’ its "Connectivity + Computing" strategy by embarking on the deep integration of AI into the ICT infrastructure.

Extending its “AI for All” vision to the Home and Personal Devices domains, ZTE explored new paradigms for human-device interaction, accelerating the development of an AI ecosystem that covers multiple user scenarios.

Buoyed by these breakthroughs, Mr. Lu sheds light on how ZTE’s partnership strategy with multiple ISPs in Brazil, through local empowerment and ecosystem collaboration, has been an important success factor.

“We combine our technology with strong local partners to fit the Brazil ISP market and achieve win-win results,” said Mr. Lu. “Brazil has more than 7,000 active ISPs, making up 57% of the fixed broadband market and covering 63% of FTTH users – a huge and dynamic market.

“A key part of our success is our exclusive partnership with Multi Group, a leading local electronics manufacturer. With its local manufacturing, logistics, and sales teams, we efficiently reach thousands of ISPs and improve our local execution. In projects, ZTE leads technology, quality control, and training, while Multi Group handles customer engagement and local delivery.”

Win-win synergies the springboard for growth

ZTE continues to support both large and small ISPs. “For major ISPs, we help with network integration and modernization,” Mr. Lv explained. “For smaller ISPs, we offer flexible solutions to boost competitiveness. Our goal is to be a trusted partner for all ISPs in their network deployment and digital transformation.”

Internationally, ZTE aims to capture growth in its core Operator Network operations segment from 5G rollouts and fiber deployments. This goal has galvanized the company to deepen its expertise in wireless and wireline products and to advance data center projects in collaboration with carriers. Further, the company’s investments in autonomous networks and 10-gigabit optical networks have laid the groundwork for future network builds.

Through deeper collaboration with global partners, ZTE aims to foster innovation and ecosystem synergy, enabling inclusive digital and intelligent transformation across industries. “Going forward, we will keep innovating and work with operators to build a high-performance, intelligent and sustainable next-generation network for the AI era,” asserted Mr Lu.