Siemens will extend the GSM networks in the Anhui province and in the Shanghai region whilst upgrading them to support GPRS. For China Unicom, Siemens will expand the GSM network in Heilongjiang province and install prepaid services. In total, the contracts are worth over $250 million.
For the expansion of CMCC’s regional GSM networks, Siemens will provide all necessary network components covering 17 areas of the Anhui Province. Construction for the capacity enhancement will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2001. For an extension in the Shanghai region, Siemens will provide CMCC with new base station systems. The enhancement will be completed in June 2001.
Furthermore, in a press release Siemens stated that it will implement a complete WAP-Gateway system in Shanghai and Guangzhou and upgrade Shanghai CMCC’s and Sichuan CMCC’s network with GPRS network components for fast mobile Internet services to be completed during the first quarter of 2001.
As sole supplier of Intelligent Networks, Siemens will extend China Unicom’s nationwide prepaid services to a capacity of 13 million subscribers by the end of this year. At present, the prepaid services are available in 21 provinces and seamless roaming between different provinces was realized last year. In 1999 Siemens, in co-operation with China Unicom, was the first company to introduce prepaid services to the Chinese market.
