AsiaInfo (ASIA) has signed a contract with China Unicom to upgrade its rechargeable mobile phone card system in China Unicom's headquarters and subsidiaries in Hunan and Fujian provinces.

Steve Zhang, AsiaInfo's president and chief executive officer, said: "As a long-term strategic partner of China Unicom, we will continue to devote our experience in developing full-service operational support systems and in-depth understanding of China's telecommunications industry to help China Unicom increase its competitiveness after China's telecom industry restructuring."

The new system will allow China Unicom to centralize management of its rechargeable card systems in various provinces. The upgrade of the rechargeable card system will involve the modification of multiple China Unicom systems including its existing customer relationship management and billing systems. The upgrade will enable China Unicom to consolidate its numerous existing independent rechargeable card systems in each province to realize centralized management of the entire system.

By utilizing the nationwide system, subscribers will be able to add money to their mobile phone accounts via multiple channels including IVR and SMS and in any of the 31 provinces, municipalities and special administrative regions in China.