Ericsson Inks US$400m China Pact

SINGAPORE — Ericsson said it has been awarded a series of contracts worth up to US$400 million for GSM and multiservice network projects, including IP backbone construction, in China.

Specifically, the projects will be constructed in Beijing and the provinces of Shandong, Hebei and Yunnan, officials said.

Beijing Ericsson Mobile Communications Company Limited and Nanjing Ericsson Panda Communications Company Limited, Ericsson’s two major joint-venture companies in China, will deliver all related systems and equipment. All contracts are being carried out with Chinese partners, officials said.

As a part of the IP backbone/multiservice contract(s), Ericsson said it would provide Shandong Telecom with its AXI 580 IP backbone routers (based on Juniper Networks’ M160) for Shandong Telecom’s inter-city broadband IP networks. Ericsson won a similar contract from Shandong Telecom in November last year.

In the meantime, under an agreement with China Telecom, Ericsson said it would supply its AXI 520 IP backbone routers (based on Juniper Networks M20) for all nodes of China Telecom’s second data communications expansion project.

In a third pact, Ericsson said it would also provide Packet Backbone Network equipment, including both the AXI 520 and AXI 580 routers, to Jiangsu Mobile. AXE switches and ADSL equipment will be delivered to Liaoning Telecom.