UTStarcom has announced a $24 million contract with BSNL to support a major network enhancement. UTStarcom will supply multi-service access network (MSAN) equipment and support design, engineering and installation for BSNL. UTStarcom is working with ITI Limited, India's leading telecommunication equipment makers, for the BSNL network upgrade.

"We are happy to have UTStarcom partner with us on this important project," said R.K Upadhyay, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL. "UTStarcom has been a reliable partner in the past, and we have successfully deployed a large number of their broadband access products on our network".

"This project takes us deeper into India's telecom market which is one of the largest, fastest growing and most competitive after undergoing successive rounds of liberalization since the 1990's," said William Wong, UTStarcom's Chief Executive Officer. "We are leveraging existing relationships with India's leading carriers and tech companies, like BSNL and ITI, to find opportunities in this country, which is poised to have one of the largest bases of Internet users worldwide."

BSNL is upgrading its network to offer Next Generation Multi-Media Services to its customers. The upgrade entails migrating existing PSTN/ISDN customers to Next Generation Network (NGN) to enable supplementary services using Internet Protocol along with basic telephony.

The upgrade will cover broadband lines for a wide swath of residential and enterprise customers across western and northern regions of India that include large urban centers such as Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakand and Chhattisgarh.

"UTStarcom has made a major contribution to the growth of our broadband business," said N.K Gupta, director and BSNL board member. "This current project builds on a relationship that dates back more than a decade. I fully expect it to lead to more opportunities for collaboration in the future".

India has always been an important market for UTStarcom and its market-leading broadband equipment.