Bangalore: Public sector telecom equipment major Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Limited on August 5 signed a license agreement with ZTE Corporation of China, a global leader in mobile communications, for the manufacture of CDMA 2000-1x technology.

Under the pact, ITI would pay ZTE Corporation a technology transfer fee of $ one million in the third phase when it takes up total manufacturing expected in 2004. In addition, it would pay a five per cent royalty on value additions.

In the first phase, ITI would take up fabrication of the equipment and in the second, manufacture of 10 printer circuit boards of the whole equipment, ITI chairman and managing director Y K Pandey told reporters in the presence of ZTE's vice-president marketing, Joe F Zhou.

In August 2002, ITI entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ZTE for supply of this equipment and so far it has supplied 150 kl to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) in 2003, working out sales of Rs 78 crore, he said.

ITI now expects to supply 200 kl to 250 kl each year depending on market conditions, Pandey said.

According to ITI, the August 5 manufacturing agreement is a sequel to the long-term co-operation between the two companies envisaged for network upgradation and expansion of mobile facilities in India and South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) countries.

"CDMA 2000-1x system provides all the latest features like multimedia services, E-mail facilities and other emerging features for future generation," it said.

PTI