Nokia Corp. signed an agreement with Beijing Telecommunications Administration to expand its Global System for Mobile communications network in Beijing. Nokia values the agreement at $50 million. Nokia said it will provide its DX 200 mobile switching centers, base station controllers, base stations and home location registers. The company also will expand the network’s existing equipment. Once the expansion is completed, the network capacity will increase to 550,000 subscribers. Nokia supplied the original GSM system to Beijing TA in May 1994, and since then, the company has expanded the system twice.
Northern Telecom Ltd. will supply switching, transmission and access products to BC Tel over the next three years. BC Tel can choose from a range of Nortel products and services supplied by Nortel’s Public Carrier Networks and Broadband Networks groups. Nortel’s Public Carrier networks group offers digital central office networks for local, long-distance and international applications as well as engineering and provisioning services that align infrastructure investment with telephone companies’ revenues, Nortel said. Broadband products included in the agreement are the Sonet family of products, Nortel’s Access portfolio and directory and operator services.
Lucent Technologies Inc. won contracts to supply equipment to Brazil and Hong Kong telecommunications providers. In Brazil, Lucent said it will supply wireless equipment to two of the country’s largest telephone service providers, in an effort to increase subscriber capacity and improve quality of cellular service. In Hong Kong, Lucent will provide hardware and software network equipment, including the SLC-2000 Access system, to New T&T, a fixed-line telecommunications service provider.
Officials in Mexico placed the country’s first call using a Code Division Multiple Access personal communications services network. The system was supplied by Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Infrastructure Group. The call, placed during ExpoComm Mexico ’97, used Motorola’s high-capacity SC 4850 CDMA digital base station equipment.
Microcell Telecommunications Inc. and Videotron Lt
