Telecoms equipment provider Huawei Technologies says it is the number one long term evolution (LTE)/ 4G network provider in six regions around the world.

Speaking during a media roundtable in Shenzhen, China vice president of Huawei's TDD Networks, Qui Heng said Huawei has the highest number of LTE commercial licence networks in regions like China, Africa and Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

According to Heng the Chinese company has 189 out 393 global LTE commercialisations.

Heng said that in Africa and the Middle East Huawei has 35 in total, the most by any vendor deploying LTE in that region.

"We combine the Africa area and Middle East area together and for the commercialised networks in this region there are 35 from Huawei, 13 from another vendor, 10 from another and 14 from remaining vendors," he stated.

He added, "This is for commercial licence networks and for commercial contracts Huawei has more."

Heng was delivering a keynote address on the next level LTE, which is LTE Advanced (LTE-A), a higher speed of 4G.

He explained that LTE-A provides better user experience and has lower cost framework than 3G.

"People want to use high-speed networks but they don't want to pay more," he said.

With LTE-A operators would also benefit as they generate more revenue as the networks become more cost effective, he noted.

Huawei has a strong and growing presence on the African continent having helped local telcos and internet service providers in regions like South Africa, Ghana, and Zambia to launch LTE services.

To date in Africa there are more than 10 countries that have successfully rolled-out LTE services.

* Simnikiwe is in Shenzhen, China for the 2015 Huawei Global Analyst Summit.