Shenzhen-BASED Huawei Technologies announced yesterday it has won a US$35 million deal from Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board to provide equipment to establish a new mobile phone network in the country.

　　Under the deal, the Chinese telecom equipment maker will help state-owned BTTB to set up a global system for mobile communication, or GSM, network, to cover the country. Huawei will provide the GSM network equipment.

　　Bangladesh is the country with the lowest mobile phone penetration rate in Asia at 1.7 percent. The country planned to invest US$225 million to build up its telecom industry. Bangladesh is one of 40 countries where Huawei has sold its telecom-related products.

　　Huawei decided to quicken its expansion overseas as it believed that there would be less business risk and fewer sudden policy changes.

　　For example, Huawei developed a network based on CDMA 450 technology, something similar to "Little Smart." It received a warm market response in China's rural areas but the service, which used chips designed by US-based Qualcomm Inc, was suspended suddenly by the government because the Chinese government aimed to support a home-grown design.

　　Huawei then had to give up its CDMA 450 business in China but it had won several deals for the system overseas, such as Pakistan.

　　Currently, Huawei is the No. 1 in the global telecom switch and access equipment market and is No. 2 in the market for the next generation network and asymmetric digital subscriber line.

　　Huawei also dominates the market in Russia and east Asian countries and it has recently entered the European markets including France and Germany.

　　"Our overseas revenue is growing rapidly and it will double last year's level in 2004," said Zhang Changquan, a public relations official at Huawei.

　　The company's overseas revenue of US$1.05 billion took up 27 percent of its total in 2003.

　　"After several years, we have become a global mainstream GSM equipment provider," Huawei said yesterday.