Nokia Siemens Networks has signed a GSM network expansion contract with China Mobile Group Yunnan Co., Ltd. (YNMCC) worth about 70 million EUR. The deal concerns both urban and rural areas of 11 cities of the Yunnan province with 12 million subscribers and strengthens the cooperation between Nokia Siemens Networks and YNMCC.

Within the scope of this agreement, Nokia Siemens Networks will provide GSM coverage for the urban and rural areas of Yunnan province and upgrade the Chinese operator’s network to support EDGE. Nokia Siemens Networks will supply radio networks including the UltraSite BTS Mini Outdoor and implementation services, its mobile soft switching solution including MSC (Mobile Switching Center) Servers, Media Gateways and HLR (Home Location Register). The contract also contains care and delivery services for the equipment. In addition Nokia Siemens Networks will supply an expansion of the NetAct network and service management system, and NetAct Traffica for real-time network traffic monitoring and analysis. The deliveries have already begun and the expansion will be operational in October this year.

Besides the GSM expansion agreement, YNMCC and Nokia Siemens Networks have agreed to continue their joint efforts to enhance mobile network education system, helping children in rural areas of the province to have better access to knowledge and information society through modern mobile telecommunications equipment.

“YNMCC is pleased to strengthen its cooperation with Nokia Siemens Networks”, says Lin Zhenghui, General Manager of YNMCC. “Nokia Siemens Networks is leading as an end-to-end solution provider in our mobile telecommunication infrastructure market, bringing rich global experience and local competence to customers.”

“The number of subscribers increases very fast in China, both in city and rural areas. Thus mobile voice and data bandwidth need to be expanded. With the EDGE upgrade and our UltraSite BTS Mini Outdoor we fulfill the expectations of our customer and provide a new solution for rural coverage”, says Zhang Zhiqiang, head of Greater China Region, Nokia Siemens Networks.

GSM radio access networks delivered by Nokia Siemens Networks are connecting more than 1.2 billion subscribers globally. Nokia Siemens Networks is the indisputable global No. 1 in EDGE with 120 references. Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading mobile network supplier in China with the largest installed base in China Mobile’s GSM networks.