* ZTE posts unaudited Q1 profit of 127.3 mln yuan
* Overseas markets to power growth this year - analysts (Adds details, quotes)
HONG KONG, April 19 (Reuters) - ZTE Corp , China's No.2 telecommunications equipment maker, posted a 16 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on Tuesday, meeting forecasts, with analysts expecting its overseas business to lift growth for the rest of the year.
ZTE, which competes with Ericsson
"The broadband business is mainly driven by domestic demand," said Samsung Securities analyst Zona Chen. "For the domestic market, we still have to look at future tender offerings from the three telcos."
"It looks like the overseas market is more promising for now because they are selling more advanced cell phones, such as smartphones. Those models are not even available in China."
ZTE posted an unaudited net profit of 127.29 million yuan ($19 million) for the quarter ended March, the company said in a brief statement. That compared with a forecast of 127 million yuan by SWS Research and is higher than the 109.86 million yuan the company recorded a year earlier.
The fast-growing Chinese mobile market has been the main driver for ZTE and bigger, unlisted rival Huawei, as both companies provide network equipment for China Telecom Corp Ltd , China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd and China Mobile Ltd .
ZTE and Huawei have been venturing abroad and have won major contracts in Europe and some developing countries. But Chinese telecommunications equipment makers have faced difficulties in some overseas markets because of national security and intellectual property concerns.
ZTE said earlier this month that Ericsson had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against it in Britain. The Swedish cell phone brand also intended to file lawsuits against the company in Italy and Germany, ZTE said. [ID:nL3E7F71IL]
Huawei's U.S. acquisition plans have met with opposition by some lawmakers over national security concerns. [ID:nL3E7FF0HN]
ZTE announced its first-quarter results after the market closed on Tuesday.
Its Hong Kong-listed shares, which have outperformed the Hang Seng Index with a 17 percent rise in the first quarter, ended down 0.53 percent on Tuesday, outpacing the benchmark index's 1.3 percent loss. (Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott and Chris Lewis)