NEW YORK-AVIC Group International Inc. announced it signed a definitive joint venture agreement with Beijing Catch to create a nationwide paging network of at least 100 stations in China.
The agreement calls for AVIC to provide financing to construct and expand the paging network to its projected level of more than 3 million subscribers. AVIC said it is negotiating with strategic investment partners to obtain the funding needed for expansion.
AVIC said Beijing Catch will provide both local and nationwide frequencies, and will operate all the stations. AVIC has the option to purchase the revenue stream from 100,000 active subscribers currently using Beijing Catch’s paging stations. The fully expanded network would become the largest non-government paging network in China, said AVIC.
The necessary final approvals from China’s regulatory authorities are expected this month, and network development will follow, said AVIC.
AVIC also announced that construction has begun and is on schedule on a province-wide Global Service Mobile network in Hebei Province, China, previously announced in April. Partners in the joint venture are NTT International Corp., Itochu Corp. and Hebei United Telecommunications Equipment Co.
