UTStarcom has won a US$47m contract to supply equipment for China Telecom's networks in Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces. The California-based company had previously won a string of contracts with China Netcom, China's second-largest fixed-line telephone operator.
Both Chinese companies are using the equipment to expand their wireless local telephone services, by using fixed-line infrastructure to provide mobile-like phone services within individual cities. Neither China Telecom nor Netcom is allowed to offer true mobile services that can accommodate roaming from city to city on a single handset. However, their services are much cheaper than those of China Mobile and Unicom.