Under the contract, Ericsson will supply Hubei Mobile with infrastructure equipment MSC AXE810 and telecom services, including turnkey deployment and integration, network performance improvement and technical support.

According to the contract, Ericsson will help Hubei Mobile to upgrade part of its GSM network. The expansion will significantly increase the capacity of Hubei Mobile's GSM network, as well as enable Hubei Mobile to provide more high-speed data applications and services. It also paves the way for smooth migration to 3G in the future. The expansion will begin in August 2004 and will be completed by February 2005.

"Since our first cooperation with Ericsson in 1998, Ericsson has been one of our most important strategic partners," says Li Rong, General Manager of Hubei Mobile. "The long-term cooperation is based on Ericsson's leading technologies and products and strong local service support. After this expansion, our upgraded GSM networks will support many new high-speed data applications, and further meet the market's increasing demand for mobile data services."

"Ericsson is very honored to be chosen again by Hubei Mobile for this new GSM expansion," says Mats H. Olsson, President of Ericsson China. "The contract has further strengthened our partnership with Hubei Mobile. With our endeavors in the expansion, we believe that Ericsson will continue to play an effective and supportive role in Hubei Mobile's roll out of more high-speed data applications and services to the fast growing market."

Ericsson's presence in Hubei Province dates back to 1995, when Ericsson signed a Local SDH contract with the Wuhan Telecommunications Bureau. Since then, Ericsson has grown into one of major telecommunications equipment suppliers in the province.