UTStarcom has signed infrastructure contracts with China Netcom and China Telecom to expand each respective operator's existing IP-based Personal Access System (PAS) networks.
For China Netcom, UTStarcom's contracts are valued at approximately US$20 million. The work will involve expanding the PAS networks in the Henan and Liaoning provinces, as well as in Beijing and Tianjin.
UTStarcom signed contracts valued at approximately US$50 million with China Telecom. These contracts will expand networks in the Shanxi, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces in eastern China, as well as in metropolitan Shanghai.
According to statistics from China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII), approximately two million people have subscribed for PAS service each month in the first quarter of 2005. Total PAS subscribers in China reached 72 million by the end of March, with more than 40 million subscribers on networks powered by UTStarcom technology. UTStarcom continues to maintain greater than a 50 percent market share for both PAS handsets and infrastructure in China.