Alcatel today announced that it has been awarded a 10 million US Dollar contract by Shannxi Mobile, a subsidiary of China Mobile, to expand and upgrade its existing GSM network to a GPRS network, providing improved mobile services to six cities in Shannxi province.

The contract was won through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel flagship Chinese company. Upon completion of the project by the end of 2004, Shannxi Mobile will be able to provide mobile subscribers in the region with enhanced GPRS multimedia data services such as mobile Internet access.

Under the terms of this contract, Alcatel will provide the operator with its industry-leading Evolium GSM/GPRS network solutions including base stations, sub-systems and related software in Yulin, Shangluo, Yanan, Xianyang, Baoji and Weinan. Shannxi is located in the northwest of China and has a rough terrain of plateaus, basins and mountains in northland, which makes it very challenging to optimize the radio access network.