ZTE has won the Gold Award at the IPMA Global Project Excellence Awards 2026 for its exceptional performance on the Malaysia CelcomDigi dual-network integration project. Standing out among numerous outstanding projects worldwide, this honor marks strong industry recognition of ZTE's capabilities in delivering ultra-large-scale, highly complex communication networks. It also reflects ZTE's systematic practices in independent innovation, digital-intelligence applications, and localized operations, earning authoritative international certification for its globally competitive project management system.
Building an End-to-End Digital-Intelligence Delivery, Overcoming the Challenge of Integrating a Complex 4-Mode, 7-Band, 6-Network Convergence
The Malaysia CelcomDigi dual-network integration project is one of the largest-scale and most technically complex telecommunications network integration undertakings in Southeast Asia in recent years. As a key strategic partner of CelcomDigi, ZTE is helping CelcomDigi build a unified, intelligent, and efficient next-generation converged network, comprehensively improving network quality and operational efficiency — with responsibility for the overall transformation and network-wide integration of more than 10,000 sites across four major regions, including Kuala Lumpur. The project requires seamless integration of a multi-standard network architecture spanning 4 modes, 7 bands, and 6 networks, encompassing cross-regional resource scheduling, heterogeneous system compatibility, and multi-party team collaboration, among other challenges — placing extremely high demands on network stability, construction efficiency, and operational sustainability.
Facing the challenge, ZTE leveraged its self-developed Nebula large model, deeply integrating the iEPMS digital-intelligence platform, the iTech Cloud digital-intelligence O&M portal, and the iTech Pro technical delivery operations platform to build an end-to-end digital-intelligence delivery system spanning planning, design, construction, and operations and maintenance. Through its self-developed AI intelligent planning platform and virtualized network testing system, which fully replace traditional manual drive testing, overall testing efficiency was improved by several times over. In terms of network performance and user experience assurance, the digital-intelligence system helped the customer achieve population coverage of over 98%, an overall 15% improvement in network coverage, a 50% increase in download speeds, and an average user download speed stabilized above 80 Mbps — significantly enhancing the precision and efficiency of network optimization. Combined with intelligent energy-saving algorithms and automated O&M tools, the system reduces energy consumption while maintaining high network performance, helping the customer build an efficient, green, and sustainable next-generation communications infrastructure.
Digitalized End-to-End Process Control Delivers High-Quality, High-Efficiency Results
To address the complexity of managing the project across its full lifecycle, ZTE comprehensively applied its self-developed iEPMS end-to-end digital-intelligence project management platform, connecting the entire business chain from requirements planning and solution design to resource allocation and on-site implementation — achieving standardization, visualization, and closed-loop management across the whole process.
Relying on a digital dashboard system, the project team carried out real-time, full-lifecycle tracking and dynamic scheduling of equipment and materials, precisely tracking front- and back-end R&D resources and construction progress, and supporting hundreds of technical personnel in simultaneously advancing transformation work across thousands of sites. Under the demanding conditions of a tight schedule and parallel implementation across multiple regions, the project ultimately achieved zero major incidents and zero critical-node delays — a high-quality delivery outcome that fully demonstrates ZTE's outstanding capabilities in project coordination and execution.
Deep Localization Operations, Cultivating Local Digital Talent
To address the challenges of cross-cultural collaboration and localized operations, the project team innovatively adopted a "Chinese + local" dual project manager coordination mechanism, driving the localization of core management positions and strengthening cultural integration and communication efficiency.
The project simultaneously implemented an integrated "work-study-assessment" talent development program, and through hands-on training and skills transfer, has cumulatively trained hundreds of local high-end telecommunications professionals in Malaysia equipped with cutting-edge skills in 5G network operations and maintenance, big data analysis, AI applications, and more. This truly achieves the goal of "Projects delivered, talent developed", providing strong support for local digital economy development and fulfilling corporate social responsibility.
Building a Highly Reliable Delivery Paradigm to Support Global Digital Infrastructure Development
The successful delivery of this project not only built an extensive, stable, and reliable high-quality communications network for Malaysia, but also produced a replicable, scalable methodology and management system for highly reliable delivery. This model has now been progressively applied to key projects in multiple countries across Southeast Asia and the CIS, continuing to serve global digital infrastructure development and strongly advancing the international export of Chinese technology, Chinese standards, and Chinese management expertise.
