Hong Kong's First Pacific Group has closed a deal with Chinese operator Unicom to help develop a USD25 million GSM network in a coastal province near Hong Kong, reports the Hong Kong Standard. According to the paper, a first phase network will be built by Motorola to accommodate 50,000 subscribers. Total population area to be addressed by the final system will be 5.5 million. US specialised mobile radio operator Nextel, part owned by Craig McCaw, is to invest in a Chinese GSM network New Partnership For Hunan Network TIW (Telesystem International Wireless Corporation), China Unicom (China United Telecommunications Corporation) and China Com (China Communications System Corporation) are to build a GSM network in Hunan province, China.More than USD500 million will be invested in the network over ten years. Service is due to be launched in Changsha, Hunan's capital city by March 1996. Service will follow in the cities of Xiangtan and Zhuzhou. The three initial cities to be covered have a population of 12 million, said a statement by TIW and Hunan province as a whole has a population of 63 million. Service will be provided to the whole of the province in 1997. US Mobile Radio Provider To Invest In Shanghai Network Nextel Communications, a US specialised mobile radio provider, is to invest some USD22 million in a GSM network under construction in Shanghai. The investment will give Nextel a 23% stake in the operation.The new Shanghai cellular system, which also serves the Pudong New District, went into service in July and currently has 18 cell sites and about 5,000 subscribers. The network will be expanded to have 55 cell sites in the short term.Other investors in the Shanghai cellular system include China United Telecommunications Corporation (Unicom), and Shanghai Science and Technology Investment Corporat France Telecom Signs Two GSM Contracts With China Unicom France Telecom Mobiles International (FTMI) - the France Telecom subsidiary - has said it signed two GSM mobile phone cooperation contracts with China United Telecommunications Corporation (China Unicom) on Tuesday. The BTA (Build, Transfer, Assist) contracts will add an additional capacity for 41,000 subscribers to the city of Guangzhou (Canton), and 39,000 subscribers to the cities of Sunde and Nanhai in the Foshan administrative zone. 960807