China Netcom and China Telecom Achieve SMS Interconnectivity for Nationwide PAS

China's two fixed-line operators, China Telecom and China Netcom, have established Short Message Service (SMS) interconnectivity enabling users to send/receive messages nationwide regardless of whether they signed up for PAS service with China Telecom or China Netcom. Previously, users could only send messages to other subscribers on the same service provider's system. UTStarcom collaborated on the intergration.

Last month, China Telecom and China Mobile, one of China's two cellular operators, signed a similar interoperability agreement that could potentially speed up network connectivity negotiations between the remaining fixed-line and mobile operators.

Approximately 33.2 million people currently subscribe for PAS service in China on UTStarcom-powered networks.

UTStarcom noted that despite a slowdown on spending on new network construction as operators expand and optimize existing systems, PAS subscriber growth in China continues to be strong with expectations that the service will reach the 100-million-subscriber milestone at the end of 2005. Eight cities in China have recently surpassed the one-million-subscriber mark, including Beijing, which rolled out PAS service a little more than a year ago. Beijing's approximately one million PAS subscribers currently account for approximately 10-15% of the city's mobile market share. http://www.utstar.com