UTStarcom announced a new contract with China Netcom valued at approximately $40 million for additional deployments of its IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) in China's Shandong province. China Netcom will expand and optimize its PAS platform in eight cities in the province. In addition, the contract includes a core network upgrade from PAS to iPAS, based on the company's softswitch platform, which will be used for providing unified services within the province. http://www.utstar.com