ALAMEDA, Calif. -- UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI - News), a global leader in IP access networking and services, today announced an expansion contract valued at approximately $9 million with the SOFTBANK Corp. for purchase of UTStarcom's NetRing 10000 STM-64 multiservice optical transport solution to build the operator's new nationwide fixed-line network.

"With UTStarcom's technology, we can reduce our service costs because NetRing products make efficient use of network bandwidth and improve Ethernet/IP transport efficiency across SDH networks," said Junichi Miyakawa, director, vice president, and executive officer of Japan Telecom. "Although we initially plan to run voice and data traffic over our new network, NetRing provides us with the flexibility to offer additional subscriber-demanded, triple play services in the future that we believe will increase average revenue per user (ARPU) and speed our return on investment (ROI)."

SOFTBANK is deploying UTStarcom's technology in the construction of a new fixed-line network with Japan Telecom to deliver high-speed broadband, voice and video services to its subscribers. The network ultimately will serve all of Japan, from Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu in the south.

"Our successful relationship with SOFTBANK Corp. has increasingly become a showcase for the diversity of UTStarcom's total product portfolio," said Michio Nakanishi, president and chief executive officer of UTStarcom Japan K.K. "Besides our NetRing multiservice optical transport platform, UTStarcom also provides its IP-DSLAM and GEPON transport solutions to SOFTBANK to enable the operator's Yahoo! BB broadband services. As Japan is the global epicenter for the development of advanced telecom services, UTStarcom continues to be a key equipment vendor that enables the deployment of these revenue-generating services."

UTStarcom Inc.

Softbank