STOCKHOLM -- Hubei Mobile Communications Co., Ltd (Hubei Mobile) has selected Ericsson to provide equipment and telecom services for its GSM network expansion in the central Chinese province of Hubei. The expansion contract is worth USD 27 million.
Under the contract, Ericsson will supply Hubei Mobile with infrastructure equipment MSC AXE810 and telecom services, including turnkey deployment and integration, network performance improvement and technical support.
According to the contract, Ericsson will help Hubei Mobile to upgrade part of its GSM network. The expansion will significantly increase the capacity of Hubei Mobile's GSM network, as well as enable Hubei Mobile to provide more high-speed data applications and services. It also paves the way for smooth migration to 3G in the future. The expansion will begin in August 2004 and will be completed by February 2005.
"Since our first cooperation with Ericsson in 1998, Ericsson has been one of our most important strategic partners," says Li Rong, General Manager of Hubei Mobile. "The long-term cooperation is based on Ericsson's leading technologies and products and strong local service support. After this expansion, our upgraded GSM networks will support many new high-speed data applications, and further meet the market's increasing demand for mobile data services."
"Ericsson is very honored to be chosen again by Hubei Mobile for this new GSM expansion," says Mats H. Olsson, President of Ericsson China. "The contract has further strengthened our partnership with Hubei Mobile. With our endeavors in the expansion, we believe that Ericsson will continue to play an effective and supportive role in Hubei Mobile's roll out of more high-speed data applications and services to the fast growing market."
---In a separate release--- STOCKHOLM -- VimpelCom has selected Ericsson to supply infrastructure equipment and telecom services for its GSM expansion. According to the agreement, Ericsson will deliver infrastructure equipment, valued at more than USD 210 million, by the end of 2004.
The agreement includes GSM expansions in five out of six licensed regions in Russia covered by VimpelCom's network. The agreement includes switching and radio equipment, as well as telecom services, including equipment installation and integration, mobile network planning and optimization and maintenance support. With the expansion, VimpelCom's customers will be able to use the latest technologies within GPRS and EDGE, when EDGE is being certified in the Russian market.
"This agreement with Ericsson is yet another confirmation of Ericsson's ability to deliver top class equipment on time which is a crucial criteria when selecting supplier in view of current dynamic growth of so called Bee Line GSM network," said Sergey Avdeev, CTO and vice president, network development, VimpelCom. "Traditionally, we entrust Ericsson to perform full-scale operations under the contract: from equipment delivery to network roll-out and optimization, being confident that we get the best result. Our partnership with Ericsson will allow us to increase the quality of service toward our existing subscribers, as well as create new networks in Russian cities."
LM Ericsson