Telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent on Monday announced plans to expand the deployment of 4G LTE for China's third-largest telecom carrier by subscribers across 12 Chinese provinces.
As demand for high-quality mobile ultra-broadband services keeps growing rapidly in the world's largest mobile market, "China Telecom wants to expand its 4G LTE network," according to a press release issued by the French-American group on Monday.
"This agreement continues a long working relationship with China Telecom and further extends our leadership in mobile ultra-broadband access," the press release quoted Yuan Xin, chairman and CEO of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, as saying.
The Monday announcement further expands on the deployment disclosed in March, when Alcatel-Lucent was selected by China Telecom as network suppliers to roll out LTE technology in China's 12 provinces including Shanghai, Central China's Hunan and Hubei provinces and East China's Jiangsu and Shandong provinces.
Alcatel-Lucent said on Monday that the expansion, which is expected to be completed this month, "will increase data download speeds by almost double."
According to the press release, Alcatel-Lucent has established a strong global leadership position in LTE with 87 contracts in 48 countries and regions, serving the top 10 telecom operators around the world.
However, Alcatel-Lucent, which competes with Sweden's Ericsson and China's Huawei, posted a net loss of 206 million euros ($32.2 million) in the third quarter of the year, wider than expected.
