China's leading telecommunications equipment provider ZTE Corp announced Friday that it has signed a 3G handset agreement with Hutchison 3G, the world's leading third-generation (3G) mobile operators.

The first batch of ZTE 3G handsets has been shipped to Britain and will be sold there during Christmas Day.

ZTE has been working closely with Hutchison 3G for one year to develop the handsets and will provide 300,000 handsets for Hutchison 3G, said sources with the company.