SHANGHAI: China’s biggest telecommunications equipment maker, Huawei Technologies Co, saw its global contract sales jump 40 per cent last year to $8.2 billion (euro6.8 billion), the company reported.

The company, based in the southern city of Shenzhen, said its overseas contract sales accounted for $4.75 billion or more than half, of that total.

It was the first year in which overseas contact sales surpassed domestic sales, the company said in a press release seen on Tuesday. Huawei said its revenue rose 43 per cent year-on-year to 45.3 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) in 2005. Revenues in 2004 totaled 31.7 billion yuan ($3.9 billion).

The company did not provide a breakdown between overseas and domestic revenues. Contract sales reflect the value of contracts signed, while revenues are recorded only after delivery and completion of initial tests.

Founded by the Chinese military to produce high-tech communications gear, Huawei has expanded rapidly into civilian telecommunications. It is a privately held company, but occasionally discloses some financial figures.

The company has competed on low costs and an aggressive sales force, which have helped it win business from more established telecom equipment makers overseas.

Huawei’s main domestic rival is ZTE Corp, which has shares traded in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen and is also based in Shenzhen.

Huawei has tried with only mixed success to break into the United States and other developed markets, although the company claims dozens of big name customers such as British telecommunications firms BT Group PLC and Vodafone Group PLC as well as Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.