14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia, a leading mobile networks supplier, announced that it 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 West China. The deal also highlights Nokia's leading position in mobile softswitch systems deployment in the China area.
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.
"We are extremely delighted with our progress in the GSM business and deepening cooperation with mobile operators in China," said Yuan Wei, Vice President, China Area, Networks, Nokia.
"The mobile market and the number of subscribers in China are growing fast and steadily. With our global experience and strong end-to-end localization commitment, we support mobile operators in bringing state-of-the-art mobile services to their customers."
In addition to this breakthrough agreement, Nokia further points to its leadership in mobile softswitch deployment in China. 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.
The Nokia MSC Server mobile softswitch is a circuit core network architecture fully compatible with GSM/EDGE and WCDMA 3G. Nokia leads the global mobile softswitch market with over 90 customers for the Nokia MSC Server System, almost 40 of which are already in commercial use. Nokia is one of the first GSM/WCDMA mobile suppliers in the China area, where mobile subscribers are served by the capacity of more than 100 million lines, provided by Nokia's Mobile Switching Center (MSCi) and MSC Server mobile softswitch.