True Software Radio (TSR) technology developer TechnoConcepts Inc. has announced that it has received conditional approval from the Chinese government for the formation of the company's subsidiary China Jinshilin Techno Ltd. (CJT) in Shanghai. The company has established this subsidiary to provide marketing, sales and technical support for its TSR technology in China. CJT will also design, market, distribute, and provide technical support for Internet Protocol TV set-top boxes (IPTV-STB). The subsidiary anticipates shipping more than 100,000 units by the end of 2006, generating revenues in excess of US$15 million.

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CJT is acquiring the set-top box business from Shanghai Jinshilin Technologies Development Company Ltd. under an agreement made in June 2005. The acquisition is expected to close in April 2006. The set-top boxes will initially be sold as OEM products in China, Taiwan and Japan under a private label by Alcatel Network Support System Company, Inc.

Jinshilin's set-top box design was selected by Alcatel after testing prototypes and evaluating numerous alternatives. A recent technical evaluation by Alcatel of products for this market determined that Jinshilin's IPTV-STB is fully compliant with existing specifications for both the Chinese and European market. Jinshilin's IPTV-STB has also been added to the global procurement system of Alcatel Group for availability in the European IPTV market, where Alcatel Group currently has a 60% share.

TechnoConcepts and Jinshilin had been collaborating on this project over the past year.

IPTV set-top boxes provide for delivery of digital television programming received from the Internet to conventional audio/video inputs to television sets. The IPTV set-top box market is rapidly expanding in China, with industry analysts projecting between 20 million to 50 million units to be sold in 2006, growing to 60 million to 100 million units to be sold by the end of 2007.

Commenting on the new subsidiary, Antonio Turgeon, CEO and chairman of TechnoConcepts, said: "The Chinese market is migrating to next-generation TVs, DVD players, and other media devices that utilize wireless connectivity to the set-top box. We plan for our Shanghai subsidiary to offer next-generation IPTV set-top boxes in Asia that will support multi-protocol wireless connectivity with television, DVD players and other multi-media appliances by integrating TechnoConcepts' proprietary TSR technology with the winning Jinshilin design."