China Telecom and China Netcom have each selected Passport Multiservice Switches from Nortel Networks to expand their existing data networks.

China Telecom Shanghai Branch plans to use Nortel Networks Passport 7000 Multiservice Switches to expand its ATM based multiservice networks to better satisfy customer demand. Adopting its first Passport switch in 1998, China Telecom Shanghai has been leading Passport deployment to meet data services demand. China Netcom Shandong Branch will deploy Passport 15000 and Passport 7000 Multiservice Switches to expand the capacity of its broadband IP (Internet Protocol) metro network to support more local ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line) users.

"We are pleased to be selected by our Chinese customers to expand data networks in two extremely significant areas – Shanghai Municipality and Shandong Province," said Robert Mao, president and chief executive officer, Greater China, Nortel Networks. "The new contracts further indicate our networking strengths and our leadership in building high-performance multiservice networks in China."

According to a Synergy Research Group second quarter 2003 report, Nortel Networks Passport Multiservice Switches have been the market share leader in the Asia Pacific region for the last three years. Nortel Networks Passport portfolio consists of Passport 7000, Passport 15000 and Passport 20000 Multiservice Switches. With more than 40,000 systems deployed in over 1,500 customer networks globally, the Passport family of multiservice switches has proven field experience in delivering in-service reliability.