China Telecom to Expand Commercial IPTV Coverage in Shanghai with UtStarcom's RollingStream End-To-End IPTV Solution

July 13, 2006 - UTStarcom has announced that it has signed a follow-on contract to deploy its RollingStream(TM) end-to-end IPTV solution to China Telecom, the largest fixed-line telecom operator in China. Shanghai, being the largest city in china with a population of around 18 million people, is where the commercial IPTV network will be established, supporting over 51,000 users.

The number of broadband users in Shanghai is approaching two million subscribers at the end of the first quarter of 2006 and continues to grow at a staggering rate. It is due to these factors that UTStarcom believes Shanghai and indeed the rest of China, will provide a solid foundation for the IPTV market growth.

"We believe the opportunity to deploy a commercial IPTV network with China Telecom for a large number of additional subscribers in Shanghai will lay a solid foundation for UTStarcom's future market development of IPTV in China," said Ying Wu, chairman and CEO of UTStarcom China. "We believe that RollingStream is the best-in-class IPTV solution in the market. It is a mature, IP-based platform that is designed to provide carrier-class, end-to- end triple-play services to carriers worldwide."

Prior to this deployment, in November 2005, China Telecom Shanghai selected UTStarcom to deploy an initial 5,000-user IPTV network. The first stage of deployment put UTStarcom’s RollingStream solution through a rigorous succession of technology tests. However, UTStarcom’s outstanding performance of the RollingStream platform, in terms of reliability, stability and feature enrichments, led China Telecom to select UTStarcom as the leading equipment supplier for IPTV service in Shanghai.

Partnering with Shanghai Media Group (SMG), a multimedia television content provider, China Telecom Shanghai plans to offer subscribers a service package of live broadcast television and video-on-demand. Additionally subscribers will be offered a “time-shift” capability service, which is the ability to rewind live television, along with a large storage capability, allowing the user to record any program, creating a personalized schedule according to the users’ lifestyle.

See www.utstar.com for more information

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