China Unicom has selected Nortel Networks to provide Optical Metro network solutions in Beijing and in nine eastern and central provinces in the People's Republic of China under a series of agreements estimated to be worth approximately $18 million.

Under these agreements, Nortel Networks will supply Optical Ethernet solutions and multiservice backbone networks that will position China Unicom to address growing demand for data, voice and IP services in these regions, which represent more than 50 percent of China's gross domestic product and nearly 48 percent (619 million people) of its population.

Nortel Networks has won contracts estimated to be worth more than $1.2 billion since the start of 2001 from customers such as China Unicom.

The agreements announced today provide for an Optical Ethernet solution for Jiangsu province, and multiservice ATM backbones for Beijing and for the provinces of Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hebei, Anhui, Shandong and Sichuan.

Beijing alone has approximately 14 million people, including more than 10 percent (approximately 2.8 million) of China's Internet subscribers. In addition to addressing their requirements, China Unicom's new networks are expected to help meet the communications needs of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. -(World IT Report)