UTStarcom, Inc. today announced that it has signed a contract valued at approximately $22 million with China Telecom Corporation (CTC) to expand and optimize the IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) (iPAS) network in the Fujian Province.

The contract also includes additional PAS handsets to meet growing subscriber demand in the province.

PAS subscriber growth in Fujian has been enhanced by UTStarcom's value-added services platform, which includes short messaging services (SMS), C-Mode Web browser services, 64Kbps wireless data access, and online gaming and entertainment services. SMS has evolved into a system requirement for all wireless service offerings in China, which accounts for more than 37% of all SMS traffic worldwide despite having a countrywide teledensity of approximately 17%. Operators regularly offer SMS promotions to attract subscribers and increase revenue. On the first day of Chinese New Year this year, all carriers in China offered free SMS service to subscribers, leading to more than two million SMS messages sent over PAS networks in the Fujian Province in a single week of the spring festival.