Chinese mobile group ZTE is to concentrate on strengthening its presence in the US mobile handset market and is hoping for handsets to soon account for 50% of its US revenues.

In an interview with Financial Times, the company’s handset boss He Shiyou said that network infrastructure equipment still accounted for the majority of ZTE’s US revenues (70%) but that global handset sales were forecast to account for 30% of group revenues in 2008, a 10% rise over the previous year.

ZTE, the world’s sixth-largest global mobile phone maker, launched two new mobile phones for the US market during the CTIA Wireless Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. Mr He said the company would focus on developing high-end phones in close collaboration with US CDMA-based network operators Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless. ZTE has close ties with both operators and claims to have won 43% of the CDMA infrastructure contracts awarded last year. It also has a deal with Sprint Nextel to help build-out the operator’s mobile WiMAX network.