Economy

TCL inks 300m-euro deal with Italian firms

By Zhang Chunyan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-15 20:09

Rome – TCL Corporation, one of China’s consumer electronics giants, signed a series of business contracts worth a total of 300 million euros with Italian manufacturers and distribution partners on Wednesday.

Covering color TVs, mobile phones and home appliances, the contract is TCL’s biggest in the Italian market.

"We treasure the long standing win-win partnership with our dealers and partners,” Li Dongsheng, chairman of TCL Corporation, said at the signing ceremony in Rome on Wednesday.

"When TCL provides Italian and European consumers with world-class products and services, we also aim to promote local economic, cultural and social development,” Li added.

Nine Italian companies signed contracts with TCL, including Sarnano-based Laminox.

"Our company has cooperated with TCL for five years, and will confidently do so in the future,” Dott Antonio Arra, sales director of Laminox, told China Daily.

Founded in 1981, TCL is one of the largest consumer electronics enterprises in China.

Globally, TCL operates four business units, covering multimedia, communications, household appliances and electronic components.

TCL’s mobile phones sales in 2010 ranked seventh globally, according to statistics by iSuppli, a market research firm that provides comprehensive research reports on the electronics industry.

Shipments in the first quarter of 2011 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa by TCL’s mobile phone unit, TCL Communication, totaled 3.3 million units, which is a 62 percent increase year-on-year.

TCL is continuing to extend its markets in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific by launching new Android and 3G products, which have received positive feedback from the market.

Being one of the key official sponsors of Le Tour de France 2011, TCL has proactively carried out marketing activities to enhance the awareness of its Alcatel One Touch brand.

TCL Multimedia has also gaining ground in the global LCD TV market.

Cooperating with the Paramount, TCL?becomes?the international joint promotion partner in Hollywood real 3D version of Transformers Three, the first time that a Chinese TV enterprises to cooperate with Hollywood.

TLC is still China’s No1 TV brand, with a brand value of approximately 46 billion yuan ($7 billion).