Telecommunications company ZTE (Cambodia) may just be one of the biggest companies you’ve never heard of.

It is part of China’s ZTE, a Hong Kong-listed firm which made more than $15 billion in revenues last year and employs some 70,000 people worldwide.

Operating in Cambodia since 2007, Louis Xiang, CEO of ZTE (Cambodia says the company provides “total telecoms solutions”, and is particularly strong in emerging business sectors such as ICT, enterprise and government networks, cloud computing, and the curation, storage and visualisation of ‘big data’.

“We have consumer products like terminals and handsets, and we sell our products worldwide. We’re the fourth largest mobile phone maker in America, and in the top ten worldwide. We are also the number one 4G provider in China,” said Xiang.

“ZTE offers cutting-edge wireless access, and bearer, value-added services, terminals and managed services to telecommunications carriers, in addition to ICT solutions for enterprises and government agencies.”

Their products can roughly be arranged into three categories which include equipment used by network operators, equipment used to access networks, and services – which include software.

In the future, Xiang sees universal access to the Internet, elastic networks and digital services as key to the company’s ongoing success.

“Cambodia is an emerging and developing country. It has some opportunities, but also some risks – the two things go together. We have to work to avoid risks. A few years ago there were 10 mobile phone operating companies here, now there are only six.”

According to Xiang, ZTE is always on the lookout for business opportunities.

“We’re not looking for short-term opportunities, we’re looking to the future as well,” he said, adding that with Cambodia’s rapid development, business opportunities are cropping up every day.

“More people are travelling here, and that offers us great opportunities to build our business.”

But Xiang says the company operates from a sound ethical base, adding that the company contributes to a lot of local charities.

For Xiang, helping the society is a two-way street. “We cooperate with the Red Cross and local NGOs, and we work with orphanages. We try and teach children things, but we learn from them too.”

For Xiang, the technology his company provides is for more than just playing games and social networking.

“The Internet can change people’s lives,” he said.

“We want to drive society to be a digital one and give the people more chances to improve their lives.”