UTStarcom () is a Chinese global telecom infrastructure provider headquartered in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. The company develops and supplies a broad range of telecommunication devices to

communications service provider A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunica ...

s and network operators including fixed and

mobile network operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell ...

s, as well as to enterprises. Traditionally, the company had focused on markets in China, Japan, and India, but has expanded to markets in Africa, Central and Latin America, and the Middle East."UTStarcom, Inc. – Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on UTStarcom, Inc."
/ref> The company's products are designed to work with existing telecommunications infrastructure to provide low-cost voice and data services for access to both wireless (

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

) and fixed line products, optimized for mobile backhaul, metro aggregation,

broadband access Internet access is the ability of individuals and organizations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, and other devices; and to access services such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is sold by Internet ...

and Wi-Fi data."Profile: UTStarcom Holdings Corp (UTSI.O)"
/ref> As of 2015, the company focuses on two core areas: broadband and

next-generation network The next-generation network (NGN) is a body of key architectural changes in telecommunication core and access networks. The general idea behind the NGN is that one network transports all information and services (voice, data, and all sorts of med ...

(NGN). The company has offices worldwide with business and R&D centers located in China, Japan, South Korea, India, the Middle East and Europe. It is listed on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

since 2000.

History

The company was founded in 1995 as a merger between Unitech and Starcom Networks to form UTStarcom. Unitech was founded in 1991 by Hong Liang Lu (), a Chinese entrepreneur with a BS degree from

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

, as Unitech Telecom. It was focused on the telecommunications markets in China, Japan, United States and India, with its initial presence in China established in 1993 in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

. Starcom Networks was founded in 1991 by Ying Wu () and a team who had worked together at the

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. After several years of trying to expand its business globally, UTStarcom launched the Personal Handy-phone System, also known as the

Personal Handy-phone System The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also marketed as the Personal Communication Telephone (PCT) in Thailand, and the Personal Access System (PAS) and commercially branded as ''Xiaolingtong'' () in Mainland China, was a mobile network system o ...

, a technology originally developed in Japan. In March 2000, UTStarcom went public on the

. In July 2008, UTStarcom sold its Personal Communications Division to

AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

.UTStarcom Announces Strategic Divestiture of its Personal Communications Division
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Utstarcom Telecommunications equipment vendors Telecommunications companies of Hong Kong Streaming television Telecommunications companies established in 1991 Chinese companies established in 1991 Companies listed on the Nasdaq 1991 establishments in China Telecommunications companies of China Chinese brands Companies based in Beijing Multinational companies headquartered in China