After a month-long review, the Chinese government said in June that PHS will continue to be allowed in China’s county-level cities and counties. However, new PHS deployments will not be allowed in large and medium-sized cities. Hong Lu, president and chief executive officer of PHS manufacturer UTStarcom, estimated the number of county-level cities and counties in China to be more than 2,000. UTStarcom has won several PHS contracts in China during the last few weeks. It signed contracts valued at US$6.2 million to install its PHS system in China’s Ningxia autonomous region. The company will install its PAS mobile citywide wireless access equipment in five county-level cities and counties in the region. UTStarcom also signed contracts valued at US$10 million total to install its PHS system equipment in the districts of Handan and Putian, located in the Hebei and Fujian provinces of China. Finally, the company won new contracts totaling US$6 million to deploy its AN-2000 telecommunications access network in Beijing and Guangdong province in China. UTStarcom said the Beijing order is the company’s single largest order to date for AN-2000 in northern China and includes 8,000 integrated services digital network lines.
Hong Kong police have warned 373 drivers and summoned 44 for using a mobile phone while driving since a law banned the practice on 1 July. Prosecuted drivers face a US$258 fine as part of a tough government campaign that uses television, radio and leaflets to educate drivers about the law. Opponents of the law argue that using a mobile is no worse than listening to the radio.
China’s Fujian Mobile Communications launched a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network, compliant with the SMG31 standard and supplied by Nokia, in the city of Fuzhou, in Fujian province.
Pacific Century CyberWorks
(PCCW), an Internet start-up company in Hong Kong, announced the completion of its US$38 billion merger with the Cable & Wireless Hong Kong Telecom, first announced earlier this year.
China Mobile is looking to expand its operations outside China and has struck agreements with several foreign companies, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The announcement came as a surprise to many industry insiders, who expected China Mobile to focus on China’s relatively low wireless penetration of around 4 percent and untapped mobile potential before expanding outside the country. China Mobile, traded on the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges, is looking to expand its operations into fixed-line and Internet holdings, the report said, citing comments from Lu Xiang-dong, vice president of China Mobile.
