October 29, 2007 -- AsiaInfo has signed a contract with Sichuan Mobile, a subsidiary of China Mobile, to expand its call center system in Sichuan, a province in southwest China. The call center system is an integral part of Sichuan Mobile's customer relationship management system.

"The deal is a good demonstration of the long-term strategic partnership between China Mobile and AsiaInfo in the business operation support system field. The Sichuan system was first deployed by AsiaInfo in 2001 and this current deal will be AsiaInfo's fifth expansion of the call center system," an AsiaInfo spokesperson told Emerging China.

"It will accommodate the rapid growth of Sichuan Mobile's subscriber base and help them develop the large rural market," said the spokesperson. The project with Sichuan Mobile, will expand system capacity to support an expected 28 million subscribers by 2008.

Developing the rural Chinese market is important for mobile companies.

"Generally, subscribers come from two places, major cities and rural areas. For major cities, coverage is at almost 80 percent, so further growth is limited. For rural areas, coverage is less than 20 percent. In the future, new subscribers will come from rural areas." Guo Fei, an analyst from Analysys, a global telecoms consultancy and research company, told Emerging China

AsiaInfo Holdings, Inc. provides telecom software solutions and IT security products and services to several Chinese enterprises. The company began operations in the United States in 1993, moving major operations to China in 1995.