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UTStarcom Gets News Orders
[August 03, 2006]

UTStarcom Gets News Orders


(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) BEIJING, Aug 03, 2006 (SinoCast China IT Watch via COMTEX) --UTStarcom, a leading telecom equipment and terminal maker from the US, announced with fanfare that it has signed a follow-on contract to deploy its RollingStream end-to-end IPTV solution with China Telecom, the largest fixed-line telco in China.



The solution will support a commercial IPTV network that is initially being designed to reach 51,000 users in Shanghai. China Telecom previously signed a deal with UTStarcom that saw the latter deploying a 5,000-user IPTV network last November, which it says was put through a series of rigorous technology tests.

China Telecom, which is also partnering with content provider, Shanghai Media Group, on the new IPTV service, plans to offer a package of live broadcast television and VOD.


The service will also offer the ability to pause and rewind live television, and other network PVR capabilities. "We believe the opportunity to deploy a commercial IPTV network with China Telecom for a large number of additional subscribers in Shanghai will lay a solid foundation for UTStarcom's future market development of IPTV in China," Ying Wu, chairman and CEO of UTStarcom China, said in a prepared statement.

Bill Huang, senior vice president and CTO (Chief Technical Officer) of UTStarcom Incorporated, recently said that they are taking a turn for the better in the PHS business, and their IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) begins to gain ground as well.

At present, the leading PHS handset maker takes around 60% share in the Chinese domestic market, and its aim is to build the number one IPTV brand in the world, according to the company's internal data.

Wu Ying, vice chairman and executive vice president of UTStarcom, pointed out too that IPTV has a much bigger market room than PHS. IPTV equipment can be sold worldwide, but PHS handsets can only be in the Chinese market. Even though at home, the 380 million TV sets indicates at least 200 million IPTV users, and it is really uneasy to develop 100 million PHS users.

Bill Huang noted that telecom carriers are shifting their focus from voice to broadband, and IPTV will become one of their core businesses. UTStarcom has already sensed the business opportunity, and is confident in maintaining the current market share.

In the light of the plan of UTStarcom (NASDAQ: UTSI), its form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2006 (Q1 2006 Form 10-Q), which has been put off for two times, will be debuted on June 22.

However, the company not long ago received an additional NASDAQ Staff Determination Notice stating that it had failed to file its Q1 2006 Form 10-Q, and therefore, it violated Marketplace Rule 4310(c) (14).

Previously, UTStarcom had been warned by NASDAQ due to the postponement of the release of its annual reports.

Bill Huang recently talked about matters concerning the financial reports at the Third China International New Media Forum.

With regard to the loss of over USD 400 million in 2005, Bill Huang stressed that the actual loss was not so high, and about USD 300 million was book loss.

"Because of some acquisitions, UTStarcom evaluated the value reduction of goodwill in 2005, which lowered the company's assets correspondingly," Bill Huang said. But he also admitted that UTStarcom is indeed in a sorry plight because of the decline of PHS business and the slow growth of some new businesses.

In order to pull through the difficult time, the company carried out expansions in other sectors such as NGN (Next Generation Network) in a bid to improve and balance its business development structure, according to Bill Huang.

From China Economic Times, Page 1, Wednesday, August 02, 2006
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