Samsung Electronics was among six winners of a bidding process held by China's second largest carrier China Unicom to provide mobile phone equipment. Others included Ericsson and Motorola and three unspecified companies, Yonhap News Agency said.

Samsung Electronics declined to comment, noting that China Unicom has yet to disclose the results of the bidding process.

But Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji has told South Korean Information and Communication Minister Yang Seung-Taik that Samsung Electronics was selected to provide equipment for code division multiple access mobile (CDMA) phone services in the cities of Shanghai and Tianjin and in Fujian and Hebei provinces.

Samsung will provide equipment worth US$150 million initially and will also supply handsets worth US$500 million by early 2002, the ministry said.

South Korea is considered a global leader in manufacturing equipment using CDMA technology, which was jointly developed by South Korea and US company Qualcomm.

The information and communications ministry attributed Samsung's success to an aggressive sales campaign by South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung.

By winning the bid, South Korea could export US$10 billion worth of wireless telecoms equipment and handsets to China over next five years, the ministry said.

"It will help South Korea build a CDMA belt" in Asia, it said, adding China's decision would prompt China's Taiwan region, Indonesia, Vietnam and other Asian countries to adopt CDMA technology.

They also stressed the deal should lay the foundations for other local mobile phone operating companies, spare parts manufacturers, and telecommunications solution firms to enter the expanding Chinese market.

China plans to set up a nationwide CDMA network with over 70 million users in the next four years, estimated to be worth around US$50 billion.

SEC competed with 11 other global players for the contract in China's fast-growing mobile phone market, which has networks using both industry standards, CDMA and global system for mobile communications (GSM).

Last week Seoul signed an agreement with Beijing to import import 10,000 tons of Chinese garlic by June to head off a ban on exports of mobile phones and polyethylene goods.

(China Daily 04/27/2001)