Dec. 14, 2009 (China Knowledge) - ZTE Corp<000063><0763>, the largest listed telecom equipment provider in China, sold 14.2 million mobile phones during the third quarter of 2009, a year-on-year increase of 38%, according to the company's latest report.

The sales figure almost equaled that of Sony Ericsson, the world’s fifth-largest mobile phone maker.

ZTE's sales in the first three quarters are reportedly 42% higher than in the year-ago period. The firm's mobile phone sector contributed to about 25% its total income.

Its first TD-SCDMA in-depth customized mobile phone, U210, is selling well in 40 cities with a market share of 27.4%. Moreover, ZTE gained the order of nearly 1 million 3G handsets at China Telecom's<0728><CHA> procurement in August 2009, accounting for one-quarter of the telecom operator's total order. The company also got an order of 340,000 WCDMA mobile phones from China Unicom<600050><0762><CHU> in September.

ZTE posted revenue of RMB 5.5 billion from mobile phone business in the first half this year, up 29.8% year on year, according to the company's interim report.