AsiaInfo (ASIA) has signed a contract with China Unicom to upgrade its rechargeable mobile phone card system in China Unicom's headquarters and subsidiaries in Hunan and Fujian provinces.

The new system will allow China Unicom to centralize management of its rechargeable card systems in various provinces.

"We are pleased to leverage our best-of-class technology to optimize China Unicom's business and allow the company to provide more convenient and user-friendly services that will help it differentiate its service offering in the face of increased competition," said Steve Zhang, AsiaInfo's president and chief executive officer.

The upgrade of the rechargeable card system will involve the modification of multiple China Unicom systems including its existing customer relationship management and billing systems. The upgrade will enable China Unicom to consolidate its numerous existing independent rechargeable card systems in each province to realize centralized
management of the entire system.