China Unicom Talks LouderChina United Telecommunications Corp's (China Unicom) Guangdong branch Friday signed an agreement with US-based telecom giant Motorola to purchase the latter's equipment for a new network expansion project, according to Chinadaily.The equipment, consisting of switchboards, base stations and signal processors for the global system for mobile communications network (GSM 900/1800), will be applied to the 5th and 6th phases of China Unicom's network expansion project in Guangdong Province. Yesterday's agreement signing ceremony also marked the start of the new expansion project. Total investment for the expansion is expected to top 5 billion yuan (US$602.4 million). The project's 5th phase involves the construction of the GSM1800 network including two new switchboards, 110 base stations and 855 signal processors, which means an expanded switchboard capacity of 190,000 lines. The 6th phase will improve GSM network coverage in Guangdong with a special focus on indoor coverage in the Pearl River Delta region as well as expanding and setting up the GSM1800 network in other delta cities. Phase 6 is also expected to build several new switchboard centres, expand the capacity of the existing switchboards and set up and expand base stations and signal processors. "We are hoping that considerable investment in the network expansion project will better position China Unicom to satisfy the rapidly intensifying market demand and tap into a promising future market," said Yang Chunliang, general manager of China Unicom's Guangdong branch, at the ceremony yesterday. "And we hope the expansion project will further enable China Unicom to offer higher quality services in a competitive market." The new expansion project is set to be completed by the year end, bringing China Unicom's mobile telecom network capacity to 4.21 million lines. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |