SHENZHEN, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese telecommunications company ZTE reported a net profit growth of 115.95 percent in the first quarter of 2019, the company said Monday in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The company's net profit attributable to its shareholders reached 863 million yuan (around 128 million U.S. dollars).

The company reported more than 3 billion yuan of investment in research and development of 5G-related core areas between January and March, accounting for 13.9 percent of total revenue.

ZTE expects its net profit in the first half of 2019 to be between 1.2 billion yuan to 1.8 billion yuan.