Once again, L M Ericsson of Stockholm has beaten its more powerful rivals to key telephone contracts, this time in the People’s Republic of China. The company yesterday announced orders totaling $46m for AXE digital telephone exchanges and support systems, and said that it has also installed and cut-over China’s first mobile telephone system. The AXE orders are in four parts: a 12,000 line tandem switch for Guangzhou; a 12,800 tandem switch for Shanghai; a 6,000 line tandem switch for Shenyang and a two-year agreement for 100,000 lines for the Guangdong province. The agreements also call for the implementation of support centres in Guangdong province for maintenance, repair and training. The AXE switches will be made back home in Sweden and delivery will be over a three year period, starting in 1988. China now has 140,000 AXE lines installed and 280,000 on order. And China’s first cellular system is now working in Qinhuangdao, offering both local and international calls from the Great Wall.
