UTSI UTStarcom Holdings Corporation

UTStarcom (“UTStarcom” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:UTSI), a global telecommunications infrastructure provider, today announced that it was selected as the exclusive winner of the RFP “The Procurement of New Line Card Hardware Design Service for STN A3 White-box Router Platform” from the Guangdong Research Institute of China Telecom Co., Ltd. (“China Telecom Research Institute”). China Telecom Research Institute is an innovative professional technology research institution of China Telecom, one of the major telecom network operators in China.

This project is a natural milestone in the ongoing collaboration between the companies to develop a “white-box” disaggregated router platform optimized for use in 5G transport networks. The initial scope of the project announced in 2020 included: 1) development of a chassis-based modular redundant disaggregated hardware platform based on the Intel x86 CPU and Broadcom DNX-series switch chip; 2) implementation of hardware drivers and APIs; and 3) integration of ONIE (Open Network Install Environment) and certain UTStarcom software modules for advanced features such as PTP (Precision Time Protocol), SyncE (Synchronous Ethernet) and chassis redundancy into the customer’s NOS (Network Operating System).

The scope of the current project intends to expand capabilities of the platform, including design of 3 new line cards for use with the white-box router platform jointly developed earlier:

• 1x100GE port line card
• 2x50GE ports line card
• 8x10GE ports line card

Mr. Li Hua, UTStarcom’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Winning this new project as part of our collaboration with China Telecom demonstrates their confidence in our ability to design and deliver a carrier-grade disaggregated modular hardware platform capable of meeting the strict and challenging requirements of their 5G transport network. As our collaboration deepens and they prepare to introduce this next-generation router platform on their 5G network, we expect to receive volume orders for white-box router products, including these new line cards, in the years ahead.”

About UTStarcom Holdings Corp.

UTStarcom is committed to helping network operators offer their customers the most innovative, reliable and cost-effective communication services. UTStarcom offers high performance advanced equipment optimized for the most rapidly growing network functions, such as mobile backhaul, metro aggregation and broadband access. UTStarcom has operations and customers around the world, with a special focus on Japan and India. UTStarcom was founded in 1991 and listed its shares on the Nasdaq Market in 2000 (symbol: UTSI). For more information about UTStarcom, please visit http://www.utstar.com.

About China Telecom Research Institute

Guangdong Research Institute of China Telecom Co., Ltd (“China Telecom Research Institute”) is a professional innovative technology research institution of China Telecom Group. China Telecom Research Institute mainly serves the internal needs of the company group and aims to meet the needs of China Telecom's strategic planning, core technology research, management decision-making as well as production and operation support. It is mainly engaged in studying of cutting-edge technologies and related applications, development strategy research, network technology research, market and management strategy research, and carries out research and development of external cooperation projects. The Institute has gradually developed into a comprehensive base for China Telecom’s core technology research, product development, experimental testing, as well as a training center for hi-tech talents.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

UTStarcom Holdings Corp.Tel: +86 571 8192 8888Ms. Shelley Jiang, Investor RelationsEmail: utsi-ir@utstar.com /  shelleyjiang@utstar.com 

The Blueshirt GroupMr. Gary DvorchakEmail: gary@blueshirtgroup.com