Ericsson – the world’s largest mobile network infrastructure vendor – today announced it has scored deals in China worth almost US$2 billion. A deal with China Mobile – valued at US$1 billion – incorporates 2G GSM/GPRS kit as well as “products and solutions” based on the operator’s homegrown 3G standard, TD-SCDMA. The Swedish vendor also talked up the delivery of “green solutions to support China Mobile’s network energy optimisation and CO2 emission reduction target.” Meanwhile, a deal with China Unicom – worth US$700 million – will see Ericsson become the main supplier to upgrade the operator’s GSM networks in 10 provinces, as well as the supply of 3G WCDMA core network and radio access kit in 15 provinces.

The China Unicom deal provides financial clarification on an announcement made in March. Ericsson is competing with the likes of equipment rivals Nokia Siemens Networks, Alcatel Lucent and Huawei in the world’s largest mobile market. According to Wireless Intelligence, China’s three mobile operators (China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom) have a combined total of almost 650 million connections.