HONG KONG-Chinese equipment vendor Huawei Technologies co. Ltd. said it agreed with Hong Kong wireless carrier Sunday to supply equipment and financing to assist with the rollout of Sunday’s third-generation business.
Huawei said a heads of agreement was signed between the two companies covering terms of equipment supply and facilities for financing Sunday’s 3G network. In addition, the agreement includes a loan to Sunday to enable it to repay its existing vendor and bank loans. The financial terms remain to be finalized, the supplier said.
The supply contract is expected to cover Sunday’s entire W-CDMA network, including the wireless access network, core network, intelligent network, mobile data service platform and applications. Huawei will be the sole supplier and main contractor for the project. The platform can also be extended to cover 3G technology based on the TD-SCDMA standard, the Chinese homegrown 3G technology that Huawei has helped develop.
The financing will give Sunday the flexibility to roll out its 3G services at the time and in the manner it sees most appropriate, according to the market, Huawei said. Sunday has stated it will not roll out 3G services before late 2004.
Sunday has a facility in Shenzhen, China, where Huawei is based, which employs more than 200 people or one-third of its total staff.
