China
Taking one step ahead in the arduous process of establishing CDMA technology in China, China Unicom Group invited bids from vendors for a $2.42 billion project to build a CDMA mobile network and provided details on the system for the first time. The announcement is the latest in the on-again-off-again CDMA network set to be built in one of the world’s most lucrative wireless markets. Capacity for the new network will be around 13 million subscribers, according to international press reports. Both domestic and foreign manufacturers attended the meeting, with domestic vendors expected to win a large portion of the business, reports said. China Unicom Ltd. reportedly will operate the network with an option to buy it from its parent company. The vast majority of China’s 80 million wireless subscribers currently are on GSM networks.
Finland
Nokia Networks and Primatel Ltd. of Finland will co-operate to deliver network operations services to carriers globally. Together, the companies will work with mobile networks to support the development, management, integration and optimization of network operations for second- and third-generation systems. Nokia’s Connecting@Care solution, which provides a wide range of support services, will be offered to existing GSM, GPRS and future 3G network operators. “In the era of 3G, time-to-market is crucial,” said Matti Makkonen, senior vice president of professional services for Nokia. “Nokia’s care packages will help operators raise the quality, reliability and efficiency of their network operations, and in turn, their usage and revenues.” Pekka Kuustonen, president of Primatel Ltd. added, “Although Primatel provides vendor independent solutions, this agreement with Nokia Networks gives us an important springboard to success in the hard 3G competition.”
