MUNICH -- The Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (Siemens mobile) is starting 2003 with a new UMTS order - the first in Asia.Mobile radio operator Taiwan Cellular Corporation (TCC) has commissioned Siemens mobile to supply and set up its UMTS network. Siemens mobile has been the sole GSM supplier for TCC for seven years. This successful partnership, founded on mutual trust, is now to be continued with the setting up of the UMTS network. Siemens mobile is already delivering the first components to TCC in the current quarter of 2003. They come from the Siemens UMTS factory in Durach (Germany), where production of third-generation (3G) mobile radio is in full swing. For Siemens mobile the contract with TCC is the first UMTS order in Asia and is therefore of major significance. "Having established ourselves as one of the top 3 UTMS suppliers in Europe we were able to win orders in every major country in Europe, and now we have recorded our first UMTS success in the Asian market. We will continue to pursue our 3G strategy offensive for Asia," says Lothar Pauly, board member of the Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group, underscoring the significance of concluding this most recent contract. Siemens mobile is supplying TCC with the core and radio network, hardware and software components for location-based services, and is supporting the Taiwanese mobile radio operator in developing its GSM network. TCC is part of the Taiwan Telecom Group which has around eight million mobile radio customers and which, with a market share of some 33.5 percent, is the market leader in Taiwan. Taiwan is one of the most highly-developed mobile radio markets in Asia with a penetration rate of 100 percent. This means that there are mobile phone users who have several contracts. Siemens Information and Communications Networks Inc.