Motorola to expand GPRS network in China

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS: Wireless technology giant Motorola Inc. said on Tuesday it

signed a contract to expand and upgrade China Mobile Communications Corp.'s GPRS,

or general packet radio service, network.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the company, based in the Chicago

suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois. The expansion also includes infrastructure

equipment from networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. .

GPRS telephones offer "always-on" Internet access and are the

intermediate step towards 3G, or third-generation, technology that promises

multimedia on wireless phones. Motorola was the first company to offer GPRS

phones.

The equipment will be installed in seven major Chinese provinces and

municipalities, including Beijing, Motorola said. The company said its gear

could be installed over an existing GSM, or global system for mobile

communications, network, allowing telephone operators to use existing

infrastructure.

GSM, which competes with the CDMA, or code division multiple access,

standard, is the dominant mobile phone technology in China.

"With GPRS, subscribers in these regions will be able to access

high-speed mobile data services and obtain Internet-based content and services

via their mobile phones. It ... works as a key step in the smooth evolution of

GSM networks to 3G capabilities," Ruey Bin Kao, Motorola vice president and

general manager of the China Telecom Carrier Solutions Group, said in a

statement.

Motorola said it will significantly upgrade China Mobile's existing GSM

networks in the same seven regions plus 10 other provinces and special

municipalities in the country. The expansion program, scheduled for completion

by the end of the year, will increase the network capacity in the seven

provinces and municipalities by up to 350,000 subscribers.

Motorola launched its first Chinese-language GPRS mobile telephone for the

China market earlier this year. It is being made in Motorola's factory in

Tianjin, China.

According to the Chinese government, the number of mobile phone users in

China reached 120.6 million by the end of July, making China the biggest mobile

subscriber market in the world, Motorola said.

China Mobile is a state-owned enterprise established after the reorganization

of China's telecommunications industry last year. It is the largest GSM operator

in China with a network that offers national coverage to more than 92 million

subscribers.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.