Nokia (NOK) has won a GSM

network expansion deal with Sichuan Unicom, a subsidiary of China Unicom.

The agreement is Nokia's first with Sichuan Unicom and marks a significant milestone for Nokia in entering the GSM market in Sichuan and western China.

Under the agreement, Nokia will deploy its GSM radio and core networks, including the Nokia MSC Server mobile softswitch, in 4 cities in the Sichuan Province. Nokia also provides an extensive range of services, including network planning, optimization and rollout services.

Deliveries have started and the network expansion will be fully operational by August 2006. The agreement is another significant milestone for Nokia in Sichuan following the Chengdu R&D Center expansion, announced in April 2006.

To date, the Nokia MSC Server System capacity of more than 20 million lines has been put into operation in the Chinese market. The 3GPP compliant Nokia MSC Server System is a cost-optimizing solution within Nokia core networks. It can reduce core networks operating expenditure by 30-70% and provides operators with higher capacity, better transmission utilization, and an ability to offer their subscribers a smooth migration path to 3G and All-IP in the future.