PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) said it has signed comprehensive frame agreements with China Mobile and China Unicom, two of the world's largest telecommunications operators, to facilitate the transition to dynamic cloud-based networks.
Alcatel-Lucent noted that it will support the companies in the delivery of faster, more affordable mobile and fixed Internet connections across the country, as China strives to meet the ever-growing connectivity of people and 'things'.
As per the agreements - both spanning a year and valued at up to RMB 4.53 billion (656 million euros) and RMB3.59 billion (520 million euros) for China Mobile and China Unicom respectively - Alcatel-Lucent will deliver its mobile and fixed ultra-broadband access, IP routing, agile optical networking and network functions virtualization (NFV) capabilities, as well as Nuage Networks' software defined networking (SDN) technologies.
The deployment of these technologies will also support China Mobile and China Unicom in meeting commitments to the 'Broadband China' initiative which aims to see full broadband coverage across the nation's rural and urban areas by 2020.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has set the target for all the country's municipalities, city districts and most non-urban households to have access to 100 megabits-per-second (Mbps) fiber by 2017.
Within the same timeframe, China also expects residents of major cities to have an average access rate of 30 Mbps, 80% of administrative villages to have fiber coverage, with full 4G mobile access in urban and rural areas.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX