China Telecom has selected Alcatel-Lucent as one of its top three 4G network suppliers and has contracted the vendor to roll out LTE services in 40 cities across 12 provinces.

China Telecom, the country’s third largest mobile operator with 186 million mobile connections, is preparing to expand its LTE services in both new and existing regions, following the government issuing country-wide FDD-LTE licences in late February.

This deal follows an initial trial deployment contract awarded in December 2013 and is a big boost to Alcatel-Lucent in the world’s largest mobile market. China Telecom has not revealed the identity of the other vendors that make up the ‘top three’, but domestic players Huawei and ZTE are likely to play a major role.

China Telecom is forecast to have 7.8 million 4G connections at the end of Q1, according to the latest figures from GSMA Intelligence (a long way behind market leader China Mobile’s 90 million+).

As part of the contract to expand China Telecom’s FDD-LTE network, Alcatel-Lucent will supply its eNodeB radio access networks and services in the first half of the year.

The vendor said its 9926 eNodeB RAN includes a digital baseband unit and radio frequency platform, which allow operators to improve spectrum use and better manage coverage and capacity as they expand.

Alcatel-Lucent boasts a strong global leadership position in 4G LTE, with more than 75 customer deployments in 40 countries to date.