The agreement involves about CNY5.5 billion. According to this agreement, Nokia Siemens Networks will assist China Mobile in the designing, building and maintaining of the company’s radio and core network in the major provinces and cities across China and offering solutions of the operating support system.

A representative from Nokia Siemens Networks told First Financial Daily that this agreement is the result of China Mobile’s open tender for GSM expansion in the first half of 2008. The contract is signed by equipment suppliers with the provincial branches of China Mobile separately.

Zhang Zhiqiang, head of Nokia Siemens Networks Greater China Region says that they are glad to continue their strategic cooperation with China Mobile to help the company meet to provide high quality service to customers. This agreement represents the strengthening of Nokia Siemens Networks’ position as a leading solution provider to China Mobile.

The tailored and optimized network designed by Nokia Siemens Networks will help China Mobile to minimize the required network capital expenditure, gain a roadmap for network evolution and achieve full potential of the product for the best possible network performance, which will enhance operations and processes as well as China Mobile’s competitiveness.

Headquartered in Espoo, Finland, Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of communications services. The company provides a complete, well-balanced product portfolio of mobile and fixed network infrastructure solutions and addresses the growing demand for services with 20,000 service professionals worldwide. Nokia Siemens Networks is one of the largest telecommunications infrastructure companies with operations in 150 countries.

According to China Mobile’s Shanghai branch, its regulations related to micropayments made with mobile phones have been completed and consumers in Shanghai will soon be able to pay with mobile phones in McDonald’s and Starbucks.

China Mobile Shanghai said with a new SIM card that integrates the payment function, people in Shanghai can pay with their original mobile phones in the stores of China Mobile’s cooperative partners, including McDonald’s and Starbucks.

The new SIM cards are expected to realize volume production within two months. At the end of April or the beginning of May 2009, China Mobile Shanghai will invite a group of users to experience this new service first.

A representative from China Mobile Shanghai told local media that users can complete the small-scale payments by placing the mobile phones near the card reader. The costs for the change of a SIM card are between CNY50 and CNY100. The accounts of these new SIM cards are bound with the bank card or credit card accounts of users. Once the money in the SIM cards is used up, they can recharge by simply sending a short message.