Weekly infrastructure awards wrap-up

The following list details this week’s infrastructure awards for the cellular, Wi-Fi and WiMAX industries. The contracts are broken down by transmission technology, country and vendor. The value of the contract is included when available.

Click here for additional infrastructure awards from RCR Wireless News.

Cellular

• Belgium: Proximus said it launched a commercial HSDPA network in the country using equipment from Nokia Corp.

   

• China: Nokia said it won a $150 million contract with Henan Mobile Communication Co. Ltd., a China Mobile Ltd. subsidiary, to expand the carrier’s GSM and GPRS networks in the Henan province.

   

• Lithuania: Siemens AG won a contract with UAB Tele2 to build a nationwide W-CDMA network.

   

• Saudi Arabia: Nokia said it won a managed services and 3G/HSPA network deal with Mobily, a unit of Etihad Etisalat Co.

   

• South Korea: KTF said it launched an HSDPA wireless network in Seoul and elsewhere in South Korea using wireless broadband equipment from the joint venture of LG Electronics Co. Ltd. and Nortel Networks Ltd..

   

• Vietnam: L.M. Ericsson said it signed a GSM network expansion contract with Viettel to extend the carrier’s coverage in rural areas of Vietnam as well as to increase its capacity in the metro areas of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang. The contract includes network nodes, radio base stations and microwave transmission equipment.

Wi-Fi

• United States: Pronto Networks and Cellnet Technology Inc. announced a joint citywide wireless broadband access network deployment using Wi-Fi mesh equipment from Cisco Systems Inc. in Madison, Wisc.

WiMAX

• Colombia: Siemens said it installed a commercial WiMAX network for Orbitel, a long-distance provider in the country. The network initially covers the city of Cali with deployments planned in additional cities this year.

Miscellaneous

• Denmark: Motorola Inc. said it won a contract with TeliaSonera to deploy a commercial UMA fixed mobile convergence solution for the operator’s planned UMA service launch later this year.

   

• Portugal: Motorola said the Portuguese government has awarded the Motorola Consortium a project to implement a nationwide TETRA radio system for use by government agencies and public-safety users. The first phase of the deployment covers Lisbon, Setubal and Madeira with nationwide rollout expected by 2010.

   

• United Kingdom: IBahn said it has been named the official provider of public wireless connectivity for the week-long Farnborough International Airshow 2006.

   

• Ukraine: Siemens said it has been chosen to provide spare parts logistics to Ukrainian Mobile Communications. The three-year, $32 million contract includes repairs, inventory management, transport, process optimization and inventory planning and sizing, said the companies.