Nortel wins US$270m China Unicom deals

In a statement today, Nortel said the network expansion will take place in Zhejiang, Hunan, Shanxi, Ningxia, Henan, Xinjiang and Shandong provinces as well as Chongqing municipality.

The company added that it would be providing China's telecommunications operator with solutions such as GSM switching, radio base stations and transmission equipment. When contacted today, a Nortel spokesperson said the expansion of the networks was expected to be completed by the end of this year.

In addition, the expansion will raise China Unicom's GSM subscribers served by Nortel Networks infrastructure from about 7.1 million to about 11.6 million, the latter claimed.

The spokesperson said Nortel had previously signed contracts valued at US$275 million with China Unicom to supply Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) equipment to its national digital cellular network.

In the US, Nortel shares last traded at US$8.01, down US$0.36.