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| Sunday, 18 September 2005 |
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Hutchison, ZTE Corp deal to expand GSM network Hutchison Telecommunication Lanka (Pvt) Ltd (Hutch) last week signed an agreement with ZTE Corporation of China (ZTE) to supply GSM equipment to Hutch for GSM network expansion in all parts of Sri Lanka. The contract is of a full turnkey nature, Hutch's CEO Thirukumar Nadarasa said. The contract provides for the deployment of 212 GSM base stations leading to the extension of coverage to over 200 new secondary towns around Sri Lanka in addition to more than 500,000 wireless lines. With it, the company's GSM network will grow to cover over 370 base stations nationwide, Nadarasa said. Hutch sees the contract as a major move to more than double its population coverage. "More rural Sri Lankans will soon be able to avail themselves of our affordable tariff packages," Nadarasa said. ZTE's vice president, Renjun Zhang, who signed the agreement in Colombo said his company was pleased to continue its association with Hutch and play a valuable role in providing essential telecommunication services to the people here. Hutch is here since 2000 and first started providing GSM services in the southern district of Matara. The company expanded its network to all major towns in the island. Last year the company expanded its GSM coverage to Colombo, claiming it had completed a national mobile network. The company's mobile communication services come under the local brand names of Hutch and Rankatha. ZTE Corporation is China's largest listed telecommunications equipment provider specialising in offering customised network solutions for telecom operators worldwide. ZTE develops and manufactures telecommunications equipment for fixed, mobile, data and optical networks, intelligent networks and next generation networks as well as mobile phones. It has deployed GSM networks in over 21 countries. The local Hutchison is a subsidiary of Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. Hutchison currently operates mobile and fixed telecommunications services in Hong Kong and mobile services also in Macau, India, Israel, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Vietnam and Indonesia. It is a listed company whose American Depositary Shares are quoted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker HTX and shares are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code 2332. This company is in turn a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Group, a Fortune 500 company. |
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