Alcatel Shanghai Bell (ASB), Alcatel's joint venture in Shanghai, announced yesterday it has teamed up with Shanghai Holdfast Online Information Technology Co Ltd (Holdfast), one of the top three online gaming service suppliers in China, to jointly develop broadband entertainment in the country.

"We expect the partnership will further drive the growth of the broadband market and accelerate the adoption of broadband entertainment in China," said Gerard Dega, President of Alcatel Shanghai Bell, at the signing ceremony yesterday.

Under the agreement, ASB will offer an integrated broadband solution to the country' telecom operators, which includes ASB's industry-proven DSL (digital subscriber line) solutions and Holdfast's gaming access suites.

As a result, operators will be able to offer their broadband subscribers access to Holdfast's online platform of rich and bandwidth-intensive gaming content, supported by reliable high-speed Internet access service.

According to Dega, Zhejiang Telecom became the first beneficiary of the partnership by receiving 10,000 sets of gaming access suites for immediate deployment over its broadband network.

Since the year 2000, ASB has supplied a total of 1.05 million DSLs to Zhejiang Telecom.

Zhejiang Telecom has more than 2 million broadband subscribers so far.

"The new service offering will help operators differentiate themselves from their competition and expand their subscriber base," Dega said.

In fact, this is the second time for ASB to join hands with online game providers.

The company in June signed a memorandum of understanding with Shanda Networking Company Ltd, the country's largest online game operator, to co-develop integrated broadband solutions for telecom service providers.

"We will continue partnering with industry players and providing professional business consulting services to help operators bring user-centric broadband services to end users," he said.

Analysts believe with increased partnerships with domestic telecom-related service providers, ASB is heading in the direction to develop from a carrier equipment supplier to a communication solutions provider.

Li Lijun, president of Shanghai Holdfast Online Information Technology Company Ltd, said: "We see great potential in China's broadband entertainment market."

According to the Ministry of the Information Industry, China is expected to see more than 14 million new broadband subscribers this year.

Figures show 39.5 per cent of broadband subscribers in China now are online game players.