China Telecom has awarded Alcatel-Lucent a pair of contracts covering expansion of the operator's 4G network.
Alcatel-Lucent said it has secured a contract to help deploy China Telecom's LTE network across 12 provinces in China.
In major cities this will include the deployment of LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation capability, marking the first commercial introduction of FDD LTE carrier aggregation in China. The deployment is expected to be complete this month.
In a separate announcement the vendor said it had also been contracted to provide core routers to manage China Telecom's data center traffic in Beijing and Guangzhou, as well as edge routers in seven provinces.
This deployment is also aimed at supporting China Telecom's expanding 4G network. The operator is already using Alcatel-Lucent core routers in the Jiangsu province and Shanghai.
All deployments under this second contract are expected to be complete in preparation for service in December.
“This agreement continues a long working relationship with China Telecom and further extends our leadership in mobile ultra-broadband access,” Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell CEO Yuan Xing said.
“As data demand continues to rise in the country, we are determined to help China Telecom meet customers’ increasing demand for top quality services”