Ericsson announced frame agreements with China Mobile and China Unicom valued at US$1.8 billion.
Under the agreement with China Mobile, Ericsson will provide a radio access network including a multi-standard radio base station RBS 6000 and mobile soft-switching technology, which will drastically boost the capacity of the network and evolve it into an IP network. This deal is worth US$1 billion and will be implemented during 2010.
In the agreement with China Unicom, Ericsson will provide a faster 3G network with HSPA Evolution technology to secure higher speed and better user experience for consumers. In addition, Ericsson will further expand cooperation with China Unicom in the area of IP and broadband, supplying IP routers, fiber access technologies GPON and 40G WDM as well as IP multimedia subsystem (IMS). The framework contract is worth US$800 million and will also be implemented during 2010.
Ericsson noted that China added 106 million new mobile subscriptions in 2009, bringing its installed mobile base to a total of a 747 million. China now has a penetration rate of 56.3 percent, indicating further growth. The fixed broadband market also shows strong growth of about 20%, bringing it to a total of 103 million subscriptions at the end of 2009.
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