BEIJING - December 2, 2002 - Cisco Systems announced today that it will provide networking equipment for China Unicom's Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) upgrade project for 15 cities and provinces in China. The equipment will help increase the variety and scope of applications and services that China Unicom will offer its growing customer base.

This project builds on Cisco and China Unicom's long-standing relationship on many large projects; Cisco was a key contributor to the construction of projects such as China Unicom's IP nationwide backbone, providing Internet Data Center (IDC)and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) technologies. At the completion of the current upgrade project, China Unicom's CDMA subscribers will enjoy a greater variety of value-added services including multimedia communication, position-location services, and wireless Internet access.

"Cisco is proud to help China Unicom in realizing the advantages of mobile data and value-added services on its CDMA network. Data services are key to the success of future mobile communications. This upgrade project will provide China Unicom with a competitive advantage in the market, enabling them to offer rich services that will ultimately drive consumer interest and subscriber growth, " said Hanh Tu, the Operations Director of Cisco China.

"As a leader in networking equipment, Cisco boasts mature CDMA 1X systems, and has successful experience in various markets around the world," Hanh Tu continued. "Cisco is committed to providing China Unicom with faster, more intelligent and longer-lasting solutions so that they can offer a fuller range of value-added services."

With China Unicom increasing subscriber growth over the last months, this network upgrade is necessary for its continued ability to offer new and attractive customer services. Cisco will provide a series of CDMA 1X core network equipment-including Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN) ; authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA); and Operations, Maintenance & Consoles (OMC)-to upgrade the core backbone network, as well as infrastructure equipment such as WAN routers and LAN switches to connect networks.

Cisco is perhaps the best-suited company to support China Unicom's wide-ranging network needs and future growth across the carrier's wide array of technologies and services. Cisco will supply both equipment and services to China Unicom in areas including Guangdong, Guangxi, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jinlin, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Gansu.