13 August 2003 Redmond, WA Lightwave -- Terabeam Corp., provider of broadband wireless systems, today announced that China Unicom, the only integrated telecommunications operator in the People's Republic of China and one of the two leading cellular communications operators in Mainland China, has purchased Terabeam's Free Space Optics (FSO) system for use in its network in Chongqing, China.
The Chongqing Branch of China Unicom (Chongqing Unicom) purchased the FSO system after successfully testing Terabeam's equipment in its network. As China's fourth largest municipality after Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, Chongqing is a very large metropolitan area with complex terrain, an environment which makes it difficult to trench fiber. Chongqing Unicom will deploy Terabeam's spatially diverse FSO system to close an SDH fiber ring in its network.
"We have been testing wireless technologies for use in our networks and are pleased with the performance of Terabeam's system," asserts Mr. Jian Ming Yu, chief engineer at Chongqing Unicom. "Terabeam's FSO systems will enable us to provide high bandwidth access to customers more quickly and cost-effectively than traditional fiber solutions."
Chongqing Unicom intends to use Terabeam's FSO systems to extend its network and to serve additional customers. Terabeam's FSO systems send an invisible, eye-safe beam of laser light through the air. The signal is carried on the same kind of light that is inside a fiber-optic cable and is directed from rooftops, towers, or directly through windows to connect customers to Chongqing Unicom's network. By avoiding time-consuming and costly trenching, Chongqing Unicom's customers can be served sooner and less expensively than if they had to wait for fiber-optic cabling, say Terabeam representatives.