ZTE said it has won a contract from China Mobile to build 4G networks in five major cities in China.
In a statement on Monday, ZTE said it will build China Mobile’s TD-LTE networks in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shenyang, with more than 13,000 carrier frequencies. Financial details of the contract are not disclosed.
The deal is ZTE’s second TD-LTE contract with China Mobile. The Chinese mobile carrier earlier picked ZTE and Ericsson to build a converged FDD/TDD-LTE network for its operation in Hong Kong.
China Mobile launched the tender in August for some 20,000 base stations and 52,000 carrier sectors to be deployed in the expanded trial TD-LTE networks in 13 cities.
The tender attracted bids from ten telecom vendors including ZTE, Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks. But so far ZTE is the only vendor to have announced winning a contract.
The Chinese mobile carrier has also invited public bidding for 34,700 TD-LTE terminals to be put into network service tests, as part of its strategy to accelerate 4G deployment.
As part of its 4G plan, China Mobile also plans to order 200,000 TD-LTE devices, including data cards and mobile phones for 2013. The operator is reportedly to commence the 2013 TD-LTE terminal procurement tender in the fourth quarter.