UTStarcom, Inc., a provider of IP access networking and services, today announced that more than 50 million people currently subscribe for PAS (Personal Access System) service in China, 58 percent of which are on networks powered by UTStarcom technology.

As of the end of May, UTStarcom had more than 29 million PAS subscribers in China. Since its introduction in China in 1997, PAS has experienced tremendous subscriber growth. At the end of 2002, total PAS users in China exceeded 12 million people and doubled to more than 32 million by December 2003. In Q1 2004, nearly 10 million subscribers signed up for PAS, compared with three million new users during the same period of last year. Currently, PAS has been developed in all 31 provinces of China. Current subscriber growth forecasts that total PAS users will top 70 million by the end of 2004 and 100 million by December 2006.