China Mobile awards Alcatel-Lucent $1 billion contract

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and China Mobile (CMCC), the world’s largest mobile operator, have signed a one-year comprehensive frame agreement valued at up to €750 million ($1 billion) to provide technology that will move the world’s largest mobile service provider to an all-IP ultra-broadband network. The agreement includes IP networking and 4G TD-LTE technology, as well as optical transport and fiber to the home (FTTH) systems.

The announcement coincided with a visit to France by Chinese president Xi Jinping to commemorate the 50th anniversary of French-Chinese diplomatic relations. At the same time, Alcatel-Lucent is marking the 30th anniversary of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell as a major player in China’s telecom industry.

Alcatel-Lucent says the agreement ranges from IP networking to ultra-broadband access, including, but not limited to:

• Wireless ultra-broadband access technology, such as lightRadio 4G TD-LTE overlay and upgrades to existing networks in preparation for 4G TD-LTE deployment, as well as the lightRadio Metro Radio Outdoor (MRO) Small Cells co-created by China Mobile and Alcatel-Lucent.
• IP networking, such as Evolved Packet Core (EPC), IP routing technology, and next-generation optical transmission, such as 100-Gbps Optical Transport Network (OTN) technology.
• Fixed access FTTH technology such as GPON (see “Alcatel-Lucent to expand broadband FTTH network for China Telecom”).
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Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, said, “This is a significant achievement of Alcatel-Lucent and essentially makes us a key technology provider in virtually every aspect of China Mobile’s growing mobile ultra-broadband network. We have worked side-by-side with China Mobile throughout many developments in mobile technology, including the development of 4G TD-LTE. We are continuing that close collaboration as China Mobile moves to the next level of ultra-broadband through NFV supporting future cloud applications and services.”

This is at least the second time China Mobile has granted Alcatel-Lucent a frame agreement with a potential value of $1 billion. The two parties signed a similar deal in 2008 (see "Alcatel-Lucent and China Mobile sign US$1B framework agreement").

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