The Semiconductor Industry Association said it is encouraged by President Clinton’s decision to extend Normal Trade Relations with China for another year, and it urged Congress to support the measure. “If Congress fails to support extension of NTR with China, American industries could lose hundreds of thousands of jobs and exports,” said SIA President George Scalise. “Loss of access to this vast market could cause extreme harm to the American economy.” China represents about an $8 billion market per year for semiconductors, according to SIA.
Under terms of contracts with Nortel Networks totaling approximately $35 million, Liaoning Mobile Communications Ltd. and the Guizhou Telecom Administration plan to expand their existing Global System for Mobile communications networks to support more subscribers and higher call capacity, said Nortel. Liaoning Mobile Communications intends to provide China’s first commercial, province-wide GSM 1800 service, beginning in Fushun, Dandong, Benxi and Tieling in eastern Liaoning. Nortel will supply and install the GSM 1800 base station radio equipment. The Guizhou Telecom Administration will add four DMS-MSC SuperNode digital switching systems and a stand-alone home location register to the existing GSM 900 system in the Guizhou province to help handle subscriber growth, said Nortel.
Preferred Networks Inc. announced it has completed the sale of its wholly owned subsidiary Preferred Technical Services Inc. to an affiliate of Saratoga Partners. PNI said it received $4.5 million in the sale, $3.5 million paid in cash and the balance in credit from the New York-based merchant bank. The company said $1.75 million of the cash portion will be used to reduce its outstanding debt under its senior credit facility.
