BigBand Networks, Inc., a leading provider of broadband multimedia infrastructure for video, voice and data, today announced that Guangdong Cable Networks is utilizing the BigBand BMR ® (Broadband Multimedia-Service Router) at all of its digital headends throughout the Guangdong province. A key member of Southern Media Corporation, Guangdong Cable Networks is the only cable provider for the province, which has a population of approximately 110 million people. The company's use of the BigBand BMR is part of Southern Media Corporation's efforts to make Guangdong the first Chinese province to entirely adopt complete television digitalization, a requirement for the entire country by 2008.

"Designing and implementing a digital network has presented us with a formidable task, which has required us to seek out and implement innovative solutions such as the BigBand BMR," said Mr. Xia Ti, the Chief Engineer of Southern Media Corporation. "BigBand Networks provides infrastructure that not only allows us to better utilize bandwidth as we rapidly increase our subscriber base, but also lays the foundation for a smooth migration path as we move to an all-digital network."

Guangdong Cable Networks provides digital and analog cable services province-wide to the most populated province in China. Subscribers will be able to access diverse programming supported by BigBand BMRs located at headends throughout all 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong. The BigBand BMR is designed to control the line-up of offerings, collecting content from a variety of sources including satellite downlinks, terrestrial broadcast feeds, local storage and live feeds to enable rich program variety. Additionally, the operator can determine which of the accessed programs to carry and what channel lineups to utilize, using statistical remultiplexing with RateShaping ® bit rate adaptation to maintain video quality while maximizing bandwidth efficiency. The BMR also enables time shifting of television services through acquisition of live content towards servers for storage and later scheduled transmission.

"Guangdong Cable Networks' aggressive commitment to providing an all- digital network within the next few years has clearly made it a leader and visionary in China's cable industry," said Richard Chau, regional vice president and general manager, Asia Pacific of BigBand Networks. "Being chosen to be a core part of that infrastructure positions BigBand Networks' innovative technologies to be an important part of Guangdong's all-digital network and the growing Chinese market of rich content and services."

Guangdong Cable Networks is BigBand Networks' third and largest customer announced in China this year, following Shekou Cable and Nanjing Radio and Television Network Company.