China Cablecom Holdings, Ltd., a joint-venture provider of cable television services in China, has announced a series of broadband development agreements between seven of its joint venture subsidiaries and Hubei Unicom, a provincial subsidiary of China Unicom (News - Alert), for its broadband development network in the Hubei province.

The broadband development agreements is a result of strategic alliance framework agreement between Hubei Unicom and Hubei General Radio & Television Stations, the major shareholder of the Hubei SOE (Hubei Chutian Radio & Television Information Network Co., Ltd.).

According to the agreement, both companies will participate in developing broadband capabilities as Hubei General Radio & Television Stations will contribute its content sources to develop 3G mobile phone and internet services with Hubei Unicom.

The agreement will offer unlimited access to broadband bandwidth, enhancement of network reliability, strong customer service platform and scalability of connection services within the Hubei regions. Seven of company's cable networks, which is over half of Hubei's total subscriber base, have secured such agreements.

"We believe that the timing of this partnership is exceptional as we continue to grow and establish a solid footprint in the world's largest broadband and television market by measure of subscribers,” Said Pu Yue, CEO of China Cablecom Holdings. “Broadband services have created opportunities for the Company to expand our service portfolio and contribute to our rapid ARPU growth. We view this as a long-term partnership with one of the most successful service providers in China.

"As a result, we believe that China Cablecom is receiving more favorable purchasing power in broadband bandwidth on a wider scale and will be expected to build efficiencies implemented by Hubei Unicom's customer management, billing and service system for its broadband customers," added Yue.

China Cablecom is an emerging consolidated cable network operator and service provider authorized by the PRC government to control the distribution of cable TV services through the deployment of analog and digital cable services. Today, the company operates 28 cable networks with over 1.67 million paying subscribers. China Cablecom's strategy is to replicate the acquisitions by operating partnership models in tier 2 and tier 3 cities in the PRC and then introducing operating efficiencies and increasing service offerings in the networks in which it operates.