[September 27, 2010] China Unicom Starts New Round of 40G WDM Equipment Purchase Tweet BEIJING, Sep 27, 2010 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- China Unicom, one of the Big Three telecom operators in the country, has kicked off a new round of telecom equipment procurement for a further expansion in the 3G market. The purchase, together with a series of steps that China Unicom has taken since this May, indicates a speedup in 40G high-speed transmission trunk network deployment by the telecom operator, pointed out market observers. The Beijing-based company initiated a preliminary preview for the bidding invitation for the construction of a 40G WDM long-distance transmission networking system project on May 11. China Unicom started procurement of 40G WDM long-distance transmission networking system equipment on September 16, one month after purchasing PON equipment in August. China Unicom built the first Beijing-centered 40G transmission trunk line in five cities in northern China at the end of 2008, paving the way for its run to a 40G trunk network. The company, which put the 40G equipment from telecom equipment makers up for test in the second half of the year, unveiled the result of the 2009 40G WDM procurement on September 14. Six telecom equipment makers passed the preliminary exam and three out of them, namely ZTE Corporation (SZSE: 000063 and SEHK: 0763), Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., and Alcatel Shanghai Bell, turned out to be the bid winners, according to the result unveiled by China Unicom. China Unicom sees a speedy growth in its 40G WDM business this year, said a general manager for the ZTE product division, noting that the 4OG WDM equipment bidding this year stands 40% bigger than the one in 2009 in line number. A massive use of 40G network signals that the telecom operator has brought its state-level trunk network into a 40G era. China Unicom, which is authorized to run the widely-adopted WCDMA network in the country, has gained go-ahead to run fixed-line telecom network in the 2008 industry reshuffle. China Telecom, previously a fixed-line telecom network operator, has been making a push in the fixed-line telecom market since it deployed the first 40G WDM trunk transmission line between Shanghai and Hangzhou in 2005. China Unicom plans to lift the number of its 3G users to 10 million by the end of this year, a target similar to that set by China Mobile. China Telecom, on the other hand, expects to lure 8 million new 3G users this year. Source: www.bjd.com.cn (September 27, 2010) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]