Italian telecom operator Wind Telecommunicazioni announced that Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei will lead a joint venture to provide the latest LTE mobile broadband technologies to Wind.
An Italian local technology company named Sirti will participate in this joint venture.
Wind, a telecom operator subsidiary of Russia's VimpelCom, will provide a network upgrade contract with total value of EUR1 billion, which is about USD1.3 billion. Roberto Loiola, vice president for Huawei's Western Europe business, said that Huawei and Sirti will evenly divide this five-year contract.
Over recent years, Huawei has gained LTE network construction contracts in Britain, Germany, France, Sweden and Switzerland. In Italy, Huawei also provided LTE equipment to two local operators, Telecom Italia and Vodafone. By user base, Wind is the third largest telecom operator in Italy and its market share is 23%.
In 2012, Huawei's operating revenue increased by 6.1% year-on-year in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and its net profit increased by 32% year-on-year. In 2013, Huawei plans to double its operating revenue from LTE business to USD2 billion.
