UTStarcom Announces New Contract With China's Bureau of Radio and Television of Santai County, Sichuan Province, a Subsidiary of SARFT

ALAMEDA, Calif., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI) today announced a new customer deployment with the Bureau of Radio and Television of Santai County, Sichuan Province, a subsidiary of Beijing-based government agency SARFT, to resume their radio and television network capability following last year's traumatic earthquake. The Bureau of Radio and Television of Santai County, Sichuan province is the project contractor.

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UTStarcom will help resume radio and television networks in earthquake-stricken areas in Sichuan province via its end-to-end RollingStream® IPTV platform. Phase one of the deployment will cover 20,000 users, providing them with access to delivery channels, such as television and radio, for critical information. Upon completion, users will have access to ongoing rich and colorful TV programs, as well as a broad platform for communication.

"UTStarcom, with our interactive IPTV technology, is the ideal partner to support SARFT and help the local Sichuan province and other regions resume television and radio networks following last year's major earthquake," said Peter Blackmore, UTStarcom's chief executive officer and president. "The IPTV RollingStream® platform will improve the technology and operation levels of Sichuan's radio and television sector by transitioning from a simple, one-way network to a dual high-speed network. In the future, SARFT and UTStarcom could work together to make similar network enhancements in numerous other provinces."

After facilitating the first-response phase of the deployment including an improved technology adaptation, the long-term goal is to provide a benchmark of interactive multimedia services for radio and television content providers to develop their dual, broadband and multiple-services operations. Once completed, the residents of Santai County in the Sichuan province will have access to rich television programming at their fingertips, provided by the RollingStream® platform which is able to simultaneously launch 7,000 video streams.

According to the contract, the deployment is scheduled to start in November 2009. The project will be carried out in every earthquake-hit area in the Sichuan province, though the applied technologies will vary. Some areas will apply the traditional one-way digital TV model, while others will use interactive streaming media technology.

Specifically, UTStarcom's integrated solution will include five sets of Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) TN715 in an urban trunk network to constitute a 10G RPR, satisfying all data services of users. Additionally, five sets of BBS4000 Ethernet passive optical networks (EPON) and local area networks (LAN) will be deployed at the end user side with 1,200 sets of optical network units (ONU) at the first phase.

UTStarcom's broadband solutions enable the deployment of IP-based, high-speed Internet, voice, data and multimedia services over wireline and optical networks for service providers such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) and United Telecoms Ltd. In addition, UTStarcom's RollingStream® IPTV system provides customers with advanced video services such as interactive television, digital signage, mobile TV and distance learning programs. UTStarcom has announced IPTV deployments with Bharti Airtel, BSNL/Aksh, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL)/Aksh and United Telecoms Limited in India; China Unicom and China Telecom in China; Sri Lanka Telecom in Sri Lanka; Softbank in Japan, Brasil Telecom in Latin America and Markwell in Taiwan. UTStarcom is the IPTV market share leader in both China and India. UTStarcom is also the market share leader in India's broadband market.

About SARFT
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, an organization directly under the State Council, the former Ministry of Radio, Film and Television, is the competent administrative authority in charge of Chinese radio, film and television industry.

The terms of reference of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television includes: draft laws and regulations governing the radio, film and television industry in accordance with relevant state laws and the power granted by the State Council; formulate regulations and rules and development plans for the radio, film and television industry; examine and approve the set-up and removal of radio, film and television broadcasting institutions and program-making institutions above county level (inclusive); censor the contents and quality of films, TV dramas and other programs; govern and guide the radio, film and television industry's exchange with foreign countries and with the Hong Kong SAR, the Macao SAR and the Taiwan region; grant and lift license for shooting and publishing films and TV dramas; set up technical policies and standards for the radio, film and television industry and direct scientific research, development and application of high-tech for the radio, film and television industry; conduct research of economic policies for the radio, film and television industry; and manage the special network for radio and television and participate in making the overall plan for the state information network.

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 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. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Alameda, California. For more information about UTStarcom, visit the company's Web site at http://www.utstar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding UTStarcom's future strategy, including statements regarding the company's IPTV and broadband portfolios. These statements are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking statements include: risks associated with delays in product development or customer acceptance and implementation of new products and technologies; economic issues in the identified geographic markets; and changes in government regulations and licensing requirements. Please also refer to UTStarcom's periodic reports that are filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange commission, including our latest Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. UTStarcom assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update these forward-looking statements.