Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell (ASB) confirmed on Monday that it has been chosen by China Telecom as a major supplier of LTE equipment.
Under the contract, the vendor will provide radio access network (RAN) kit and related services for the operator’s FDD LTE network in 40 cities across 12 provinces.
"This agreement with China Telecom highlights our leadership in LTE mobile ultra-broadband access technology," declared ASB chief executive Luis Martinez Amago, in a statement.
Until recently, China Telecom’s mobile growth was held back by the absence of a full FDD LTE licence. Instead, it had to make do with a trial licence that allowed it to roll out hybrid TDD/FDD networks in 56 cities. However, in late February, China Telecom was finally granted a full FDD LTE licence, enabling it to push ahead with its 4G network deployment.
A report by C114 in January claimed that ASB was one of five vendors chosen to supply LTE equipment to China Telecom, the others being local players Huawei and ZTE, as well as Ericsson and Nokia Networks.
"Demand for LTE is exploding in China, and with this rollout, we will help China Telecom launch services quickly and enable it to maintain its competitive position, offering its customers the ultra-fast broadband speeds and performance they are demanding," said Amago.
