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China Telecom to Launch IPTV Service Powered by UTStarcom's mVision End-to-End IPTV System

ALAMEDA, Calif., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- UTStarcom, Inc., a global leader
in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions and services, today announced
that China Telecom, the largest fixed-line telecom operator in China, has
chosen UTStarcom's mVision end-to-end IPTV system to support its new IPTV
service in China to be launched by the end of the year. The first official
service launch of up to 5,000 subscribers is scheduled to be in Shanghai.

China Telecom to Launch IPTV Service Powered by UTStarcom's mVision End-to-End IPTV System
China Telecom to Launch IPTV Service Powered by UTStarcom's mVision End-to-End IPTV System

Initial Deployment of 5,000 Subscribers in Shanghai

(Logo: https://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051013/SFTH063LOGO )

'While we don't expect revenue associated with this agreement to be
meaningful in the near term, we do believe this represents a significant
opportunity over the next several years,' said
Ying Wu, chief executive
officer and president of UTStarcom China. 'We believe that IPTV technology
will revolutionize the way people watch TV by empowering users with the
ability to choose the programs they want to watch when they want to watch
them. According to a recent report from ABI Research, IPTV subscriber growth
is expected to exceed 110 million people by 2010, with the Asia Pacific region
accounting for more than 50 percent of the subscribers worldwide.'

'We feel confident in our long-standing relationship as an equipment
provider to China Telecom, which dates back more than 10 years when we started
to deploy our PAS networks,' Wu added. 'We believe our mVision IPTV solution
is a mature, field-proven platform, having been deployed by Softbank Broadband
in Japan for the launch of their BBTV commercial IPTV service in July. We
believe the success Softbank Broadband has had to date with mVision in Japan
will translate well in China, a country with more than 1.3 billion people and
a television penetration rate of more than 90 percent. The company currently
has more than 40 trials underway throughout China.'

The launch of the commercial service in Shanghai is the culmination of an
integrated commercial trial of IPTV by China Telecom in five provinces
throughout China. Partnering with Shanghai Media Group (SMG), a leading
multimedia television content provider, China Telecom Shanghai plans initially
to offer subscribers a service package of live broadcast television and
videos-on-demand. Additionally, the service is also designed to offer
subscribers 'time-shift' capabilities -- the ability to pause and rewind live
television, as well as an expansive amount of storage to record any program
and watch on each subscriber's own schedule.

About UTStarcom's mVision

UTStarcom's mVision is an end-to-end solution designed for
telecommunications operators and broadband service providers to deliver
broadcast quality TV and on-demand entertainment programming over IP networks.
mVison offers service providers the scalability, reliability, and bandwidth
efficiency to support new services such as broadcast TV, Network PVR (n-PVR),
Video on Demand (VoD), and Near Video on Demand (NVoD) over existing network
infrastructures. This may result in new revenues, new services, and improved
customer satisfaction and retention.

For more information about UTStarcom's mVision solution, please visit:
https://www.utstar.com/Solutions/Broadband/IPTV_mVision/

About UTStarcom, Inc.

UTStarcom is a global leader in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions
and international service and support. The company sells its broadband,
wireless, and handset solutions to operators in both emerging and established
telecommunications markets around the world. UTStarcom enables its customers
to rapidly deploy revenue-generating access services using their existing
infrastructure, while providing a migration path to cost-efficient, end-to-end
IP networks. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Alameda, California, the
company has research and design operations in the United States, China, Korea
and India. UTStarcom is a FORTUNE 1000 company.

For more information about UTStarcom, visit the company's Web site at
www.utstar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes forward-looking statements, including the foregoing
statements regarding the anticipated initial number of IPTV subscribers as
well as the timing and location of the launch of IPTV services, the
anticipated significance of revenues from the agreement with China Netcom and
associated opportunities for the Company, the anticipated impact of IPTV
technology on users' TV watching patterns, the expectation that the Company's
mVision IPTV system may find comparable success in China as in Japan, the
anticipated service package and features of IPTV technology based services to
be offered by China Telecom, the anticipated growth in the number of IPTV
subscribers and the proportion of worldwide IPTV subscribers that the
Asia-Pacific region will account for, and the expectation that mVision may
result in new revenues, services and improved customer satisfaction and
retention for service providers. These statements are forward-looking in
nature and subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially. These risk factors include the ability of strategic
partners of the Company to migrate trial subscribers of IPTV services to full
commercial status, the ability of strategic partners of the Company to retain
and increase their base of commercial subscribers of IPTV services, rapidly
changing technology, the changing nature of global telecommunications markets,
both in China and globally, the termination of significant contracts and other
agreements with strategic partners of the Company, the status of relationships
with key business partners of the Company, the direction and results of future
research and development efforts, evolving product and applications standards,
reduction or delays in system deployments, product transitions, changes in
demand for and acceptance of the Company's products, general adverse economic
conditions, and trends and uncertainties such as changes in government
regulation and licensing requirements, both in China and globally. The Company
also refers readers to the risk factors identified in its latest Annual Report
on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K,
as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE UTStarcom, Inc.