China Mobile has awarded a one-year network optimization contract to Nortel (NT) for its largest regional operator, Xinjiang Mobile.

Under terms of the agreement, Nortel is providing continuous performance assessment to help improve quality and reduce costs for the multi-vendor GSM/GPRS network in the Yili and Bazhou prefectures of China's vast northwestern Xinjiang Region.

Covering more than 1.6 million square kilometers and accounting for one-sixth of China's total area, Xinjiang Mobile's geographic coverage area is the largest of any GSM/GPRS network in the China Mobile family of provincial and regional operators.

Building on a network optimization project completed earlier in 2005, the new project has been expanded to include the entire multi-vendor environment. The optimization service includes network planning, performance monitoring, technical support, and on-site training and certification of Xinjiang Mobile personnel.

Since 2001, Nortel has implemented five expansions to Xinjiang Mobile's GSM 900 digital cellular network, increasing subscriber capacity by 600,000 to more than one million. Nortel has also provided Xinjiang Mobile with software upgrades to support Advanced Intelligent Network functionality and to increase subscriber capacity.