UTStarcom Selected by Sri Lanka Telecom to Launch IPTV Services on the South Asian Island

UTStarcom Selected by Sri Lanka Telecom to Launch IPTV Services on the South Asian Island

ALAMEDA, Calif., June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- UTStarcom, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTSI) today announced a multi-million dollar contract with Just In Time Holdings Pvt Ltd. to supply its industry-leading RollingStream(R) end-to-end Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) solution to Sri Lanka Telecom Public Ltd. Co. (SLT), the country's largest tier-one wireline and incumbent operator.

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SLT, a provider of international and domestic voice, Internet, and data services, will use the RollingStream platform to bring IPTV services to its growing customer base throughout Sri Lanka. SLT, with more than 87 percent market share and a wireline subscriber base of more than 1,300,000 customers, expects to grow its residential and commercial business through its increased triple play capabilities now available with this IPTV deployment.

"UTStarcom's market position is unique in that it primarily offers 'end-to-end' IPTV solutions," noted Gary Schultz, president of MRG, Inc., which publishes the semi-annual IPTV Global Market Leader Report that tracks deployments in six IPTV sub-sectors in Asia, Europe, North America and Rest-of-World.* "In terms of the total number of actual IPTV sub-sectors -- and subscribers -- served, UTStarcom is the leading end-to-end supplier in the Asian IPTV market. IPTV, as an application-enabler, continues to open up new opportunities for revenue generation for service providers. MRG forecasts global IPTV network capital expenditure (CAPEX) to grow at a 16 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the next few years, as service providers provision differentiated service offerings to further their competitive edge."

SLT's IPTV deployment is designed to support approximately 100,000 subscribers in the next two years and will enable the company to provide video services to future subscribers over copper lines in the next three to four years.

"Sri Lanka Telecom is well-known in the region as a tier-one communications provider and is credited with establishing several industry firsts in the country," said Vijay Yadav, managing director for UTStarcom in South Asia. "UTStarcom is looking forward to the opportunities our relationship with Sri Lanka Telecom will present in the region and we are committed to providing the operator with a competitive IPTV solution that will extend SLT's strides and solidify Sri Lanka as a major telecom hub in South Asia."

UTStarcom's RollingStream end-to-end IPTV system currently supports more than 850,000 live IPTV subscribers globally and maintains a total system capacity exceeding 2.5 million subscribers as a result of recent successful deployments in China with China Netcom and China Telecom, in India with Bharti Airtel, MTNL/Aksh and UTL, in Japan with Softbank, in Latin America with Brasil Telecom and in Taiwan with Markwell.

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 broadband, wireless, and handset 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. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Alameda, California, the company has research and development operations in the United States, Canada, China, Korea and India. For more information about UTStarcom, visit the company's Web site at http://www.utstar.com/.

About Sri Lanka Telecom Public Ltd. Co.

Sri Lanka Telecom is one of the country's most valuable blue chip companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion. While Global Telecommunications Holdings N.V. of Netherlands owns a 35.2% stake in Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), 49.2% is owned by the Government of Sri Lanka and 15.3% is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. The company was also awarded an AAA (sri) rating by Fitch Ratings Lanka followed by a BB- international rating by Fitch International and Standard & Poor's. SLT Group has a customer base of over two million including multinational corporations, large and small corporate, retail and domestic customers. Today SLT provides facilities and services including voice, data, video and mobile to its customers, which are unmatched in scope. These services range from domestic and international voice, advance data transmission services which include internet services on leased lines, broadband (on ADSL) and dial up, data circuits, frame relay solutions to IP services such as IP-VPN based on IP-MPLS technology, total corporate solutions of multiple services, satellite uplink services and mobile telephony through the fully owned subsidiary Mobitel.

With a view to making Sri Lanka a broadband island, SLT is in the process of introducing the necessary infrastructure in the form of Next Generation Networks (NGN) using optical fibre backbone and broadband services such as IMS and IPTV. SLT also provides high speed global connectivity to countries in the South Asian region through its investments in international submarine cables such as SMW3, SMW4 and the Bharat Lanka submarine cable (between India and Sri Lanka) and Dhirragu-SLT submarine cable system between Maldives Islands and Sri Lanka. Newly incorporated SLT Hong Kong Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom, is fully geared to provide services such as IP transit, IPVPN, IPLC and International voice traffic transit services to global telecom operators and corporations in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit http://www.slt.lk/.

About Just In Time Holdings (Pvt) Ltd.

Incorporated in 1996, Just in Time Holdings Pvt Ltd. (JIT) delivers a wide portfolio of industry specific IT solutions, hardware and network equipment and integrated end-to-end solutions. Based in Sri Lanka, the company's sales and professional services teams combine problem solving with innovative technology to effectively address the business and IT needs of our customers. JIT Group consists of Just in Time Technologies (Pvt) Ltd., Just in Time Holdings (Pvt) Ltd., Techsys (Pvt) Ltd. and Integrated BPO Solutions Pvt Ltd., as subsidiaries. For more information, visit http://www.jithpl.com/.

*Footnote: Asian IPTV Sub-sectors tracked by MRG, Inc. include Video Headends, Middleware, Set-top-boxes, Content Protection, Video-on-Demand (VOD), and Access, which together comprise an "End-to-End IPTV System."

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, regarding UTStarcom's future strategy, including statements regarding the company's geographic markets providing the best growth opportunities and delivering the company's customers the most compelling solutions available. 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: increased competition; failure to rapidly and successfully develop and introduce IPTV product in this region; the anticipated growth in demand for IPTV in Sri Lanka; the rapidly changing nature of IPTV technology and the telecommunications market; termination of new contracts, partnerships or alliances; changes in government regulation and licensing requirements in Sri Lanka; and risks associated with delays in product development or customer acceptance. 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.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: ckamieniecki@utstar.com

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Source: UTStarcom, Inc.

CONTACT: Darleen DeRosa, Senior Director, Corporate Public Relations of
UTStarcom, Inc., +1-510-769-2830, darleen.derosa@utstar.com; Sara Zavala of
Edelman, +1-702-644-2465, sara.zavala@edelman.com, for UTStarcom, Inc.

Web site: http://www.utstar.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment