UTStarcom Inc. announced that it has signed a contract with China Telecom Sichuan Province valued at approximately $30 million to expand its IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) iPAS platform in the city of Chengdu.

Once the expansion is complete, PAS capacity in Chengdu City, with a population of 10 million people, will surpass 1.5 million. Since the initial launch of PAS in Sichuan Province in April 2002, more than 750,000 people have subscribed to receive basic service, while approximately 60,000 subscribers are also data users.

"We continue to see tremendous demand for PAS service throughout China as evidenced by this most recent expansion in Chengdu," said Simon Le, senior vice president of sales for UTStarcom China. "PAS is continuing to prove that it is the best, most cost-effective wireless solution to meet the demands of the majority of the population who want mobility but have limited resources. In addition, operators such as China Telecom are experiencing unprecedented revenue and earnings growth because of the remarkable return on investment of less-than two years that PAS offers. In fact, over 42 percent of all new fixed-line subscribers this year have come under PAS. PAS creates a 'win-win-win' scenario for the consumer, the operator and UTStarcom."