China Mobile has awarded Alcatel-Lucent a contract worth up to €750 million ($1.03 billion) to provide technology to help the operator transition to an all-IP 4G network.
As part of the contract, China Mobile has selected Alcatel-Lucent as a key provider of IP networking and fast broadband equipment including TD-LTE overlay, small cells, EPC and 100G optical technology. The deal has a one-year term.
The deal is designed to pave the way for China Mobile to introduce NFV and cloud-based services in the future, Alcatel-Lucent said.
China Mobile last year selected Alcatel-Lucent to deliver the largest share of the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) for its TD-LTE network. That year, the vendor also secured 11% of China Mobile's 20 billion yuan initial TD-LTE base station contracts.
Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michael Combes said this new deal “essentially makes us a key technology provider in virtually every aspect of China Mobile’s growing mobile ultra-broadband network.”
He said the company has had a presence in China for the past 30 years through subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell.