China Chooses Nortel for Tibet Railway

SHANGHAI, China – Canadian telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. said Wednesday that China’s Railways Ministry has chosen it to provide a digital wireless communications network on the world’s highest rail service, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

The decision followed a yearlong trial of Nortel’s GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) for Railways technology in China at altitudes of up to 15,700 feet above sea level, Nortel said in a statement.

The 700 mile railway, which traverses a frozen plateau, will use Nortel’s digital network technology to transmit safety data as well as to support communications, the statement said.

The 27 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) railway, due for completion in 2007, is meant to bind restive Tibet more closely to China by raising living standards in the Himalayan territory, one of the country’s poorest areas.