Motorola Inc said yesterday it has signed US$431 million worth of contracts in the first half of this year to help China Mobile expand its GSM network before reorganized rivals China Unicom and China Telecom launch their own services.

Under the agreement, Motorola will supply China Mobile with GSM? (global system for mobile communications) network equipment and a range of other services. The expanded and improved GSM networks will be deployed across 16 municipalities and provinces, including Beijing and Tianjin and Sichuan, Zhejiang and Guizhou provinces. The deal also enables China Mobile to deliver "value-added" multimedia functions and services, Motorola said in a statement.

China Mobile has 400 million users under its GSM network, two-thirds of the national's total mobile population.

Motorola also won US$394 million in contracts from China Mobile in the same period last year.

"No matter what direction China Mobile moves forward after the restructuring, Motorola is well-placed to provide the best migration path for both the wireless network and the core network of China Mobile," Ruey-Bin Kao,? president of Motorola China, said in a statement.

With telecoms going through an industry-wide restructuring, China's phone operators are facing one of the most critical periods in their history.

The industry revamp merges China Unicom with China Netcom's fixed-line network, and China Telecom has acquired China Unicom's CDMA (code division multiple access) business.

(Shanghai Daily August 7, 2008)