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07 Feb 2006

Award-winning F1000 WiFi phone at the heart of pioneering bid to cut GSM mobile phone roaming charges

UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI), a global leader in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions and services, is to support RabbitPoint of the UK by providing its award-winning F1000 WiFi phone for RabbitPoint customers around the world.

The F1000 portable Wi-Fi handset allows people to make calls from any Wi-Fi hot spot. RabbitPoint has harnessed the power and capabilities across broadband, mobile, VoIP and WiFi technologies to produce a system that enables totally free calls to all customers using its network. The company plans to install WiFi across the UK and internationally, with the international calling becoming a major weapon in the battle to reduce roaming charges for travellers.

“UTStarcom has always prided itself on being in the forefront of new technologies and solutions and we are delighted that the F1000 is being used for RabbitPoint’s exciting new offering,” said UTStarcom’s UK and Ireland General Manager John McCall.

The F1000 provides all the features and functionality of a VoIP terminal adapter together with a standard cordless telephone, but has the advantage of letting users talk from any available Wi-Fi access point instead of just the base that they have at home. The F1000 features a sleek form factor similar to today's cellular phones, but has increased talk and standby times.

In addition, unique power management features, combined with an energy efficient design, give the F1000 handset a standby time of up to 80 hours, while competing Wi-Fi phones have a standby time of only eight hours. At three to four hours, talk time is six to eight times longer than the 30-minute talk time of typical Wi-Fi phones on the market. Additionally, when the battery runs low, the handset recharges in only two to three hours.

“RabbitPoint is a new system that harnesses high speed internet connections to its new breed of mobile phones at a zero cost. Anyone with the F1000 may make free calls to any other person who is hooked up on the network. Not only that, they can make and receive mobile WiFi calls without having to pay the outrageously high roaming charges levied by the traditional mobile operators.”

UTStarcom’s success with RabbitPoint comes on the eve of the company’s debut at 3GSM in Barcelona, where it will display its comprehensive line of end-to-end wireless solutions — from infrastructure equipment at a service provider’s central office to end-user devices.

“Not only does this year’s show mark UTStarcom’s debut on the show floor at the 3GSM World Congress, but the event will also serve as an introduction for the new UTStarcom team in Europe, Africa and the Middle East headed up by Youssef Kassissia,” said Brian Caskey, vice president of worldwide marketing at UTStarcom, Inc.

“Additionally, we will also unveil Continuity™, our new feature-based Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) solution that provides fully integrated, seamless roaming for users between fixed-line Voice-over-IP (VoIP) networks and mobile networks without any significant or costly network overhauls.”

In addition to displaying a demo of its FMC solution at the show, UTStarcom will also have live demonstrations of its MovingMedia 2000 all-IP CDMA2000 wireless infrastructure solution; its IP-based Personal Access System (iPAS(TM)) solution; its F1000 portable WiFi handset running over its IP-based mSwitch™ softswitch platform; and its mVision end-to-end Television over IP (TVoIP) solution over both its Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GEPON) solution.

UTStarcom Expands Presence in Europe, Middle East and Africa
3GSM 2006 also marks the debut of the new UTStarcom team in Europe, Africa and the Middle East headed by Youssef Kassissia, the company’s new vice president of EMEA sales.

“UTStarcom’s strengths as a worldwide telecommunications equipment provider are its innovative R&D engineering and low-cost manufacturing based in Asia and India coupled with its dedication to providing customers with experienced local sales and support presence within the region,” Kassissia said. “UTStarcom is committed to successfully penetrating the carrier market in the EMEA region with our customized, IP-based solutions. We have sales and engineering personnel in nine countries across Europe, Africa and the Middle East with native language skills and continue to grow our organization to better support our customers.”

Appointed to his new role in early 2005, Kassissia’s extensive professional experience includes 10 years of executive leadership of global teams with Ericsson, Marconi, Bell Canada, Bell Northern Research, Nortel Networks and China Aerocom. From 1996 through 2002, Kassissia led Nortel Networks’ next-generation and 3G wireless business efforts for the company’s European team. Kassissia holds a master’s in science in electrical engineering from INRS-Telecommunications Montreal, a graduate degree from Supelec, Paris and a master’s of business administration from McGill University in Montreal.