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Nortel Networks Wins US$270m Contract
Nortel Networks said Thursday it has won contracts worth US$270 million with China Unicom, the country's second-largest telecom operator, to expand its networks and help introduce wireless Internet services.
The expansion, which is based on the global system for mobile communications (GSM) standard developed in Europe, will boost Unicom's capacity by 4.5 million, the Canadian company said.
Even as China Unicom is moving to expand its GSM-based capacity, it also has ambitious plans for networks based on the rival US-developed code division multiple access (CDMA) technology.
Backers of China Unicom's plans for CDMA have said the company could wind up with the world's largest CDMA mobile phone network of 50 million subscribers by the end of 2004.
China Unicom currently operates CDMA networks in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Xi'an and Guangzhou, servicing just 550,000 customers.
China has 105 million mobile phone users and adds more than 1 million new subscribers every week, according to statistics from the ministry of information industry.
Given this momentum, observers estimate the number of cell phone users will surpass that of fixed-line users -- currently totaling 157 million -- by early next year.
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