***CDMA Gives Firms Mainland Deals
(April 3)
US telecommunications giants Motorola and Lucent Technologies
have finalized contracts valued at about US$20 million to expand
mobile networks in the mainland following Beijing's approval of
the CDMA (code division multiple access) standard.
The deals have boosted the value of telecoms and electronics
contracts signed with US firms this year to about $450 million.
Xinhua news agency reported that the Beijing Posts and
Telecommunications Administration would buy CDMA equipment from
Motorola to build 35 base stations for network coverage in the
capital. It said Lucent had also signed a draft contract with
Guangdong Cellular Telecom - a subsidiary of China Telecom - to
supply equipment to expand the number of CDMA base stations to 45
in southern Guangdong.
The contracts were the first confirmation Beijing had approved
the use of CDMA which creates a market for makers from the United
States, where the technology dominates cellular phone use.
The mainland's cellular phone market is monopolized by the
European-based GSM (global system for mobile communications)
standard.
The US has long rallied for Beijing to adopt the CDMA standard;
President Bill Clinton pushed for support of the technology
during his visit to the mainland last year.
Orders of CDMA equipment would help boost US exports and thus
trim the mainland's trade surplus with the US, which stood at
about $57 billion last year.
The latest deals follow signings of a number of contracts with US
companies on a trade visit to the mainland by US Commerce
Secretary William Daley. Included in those contracts, Motorola is
to supply $100 million of GSM equipment to expand the cellular
network of the Hunan Posts and Telecommunications Administration,
while Lucent won a $106 million deal from China Unicom to expand
GSM networks in Guangdong.
Meanwhile, California-based Qualcomm, which developed the CDMA
standard, saw its shares hit a record on optimism that the
cellular phone manufacturer would see a surge in revenue from the
mainland.
China Unicom, the only competitor to state monopoly China
Telecom, plans to spend about $2.86 billion this year to build
cellular networks in 190 cities, most of which will use Qualcomm
technology.
Wave Issue 9035 4/05/99 Article 1-01